Here Comes the Night
by kawaii-kakashi
Summary: A lot of things are happening in Konoha. Tsunade is stepping down, but there are some things to be done before a new Hokage can take her place. Kakashi comes back from a lengthy mission but doesn't even notice the commotion. He only has eyes for someone else... KakaNaru.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **I think of this as a sequel to "Under the sun, where we belong", but you don't need to read that first.

* * *

**Here comes the night**

Chapter one

**Kakashi**

With great reluctance he opened his eyes to the hospitable light in the tiny room. It consisted of two beds to one side, a desk to the other and a window in between. In the bed above him his roommate was still sleeping, snoring loud enough for anyone to consider it psychological terror. Kakashi took his earplugs out.

Their camp was situated ten minutes away from the village. People were generally wary of him, not so much because he was from Konoha but more because of the reputation he had that followed him around like a ball on a chain, leaving a dried out riverbed behind him wherever he went. He'd arrived four months ago, on a mission to strengthen the bonds between Sound and Fire country. All things considered, it had gone well. Those in charge had requested help from Konoha in the form of an overseer, helping them to speed up the process of obtaining a military force. Ever since the unjust attack on Konoha by sound nin the country had been the subject of various meetings at the Kage gatherings, which resulted in reprisals being placed upon the struggling country. For example they could only keep a certain number of fighting class shinobi, and those were the men Kakashi worked with. Of course he also had the job of gathering information about Sound country, their leaders and their future ambitions, not to mention keeping an eye out for Orochimaru. There had been no reports or sighting of him ever since the last battle, but to assume he was dead would be foolish. After all, he had a tendency to come back to life.

Because of his position he had practically unlimited insight into Otogakures military forces, which kind of was the point. Him being placed there was a quiet attempt to wash their hands of the attack that ultimately led to Sarutobi-samas death. The leader of the ninja village, a burly man in his forties without any real power, wouldn't be caught dead apologizing for something that had happened before he got to the leading position, but this was practically the same thing. _Come see for yourselves, we're your allies. _

Kakashi was pleased with what he saw, the nin were effective and good at defense, a valuable trait. The military had been shrunk from an all-encompassing kind of force to a more direct "go where needed" type of regiment, which was good for all of Sounds' neighbors since they wouldn't be attacking anyone in the future. Their soldiers may be above average, but when it came to the sheer number of men, they weren't a force to be reckoned with. He just hoped no one thought about attacking Sound instead.

His days went by quickly out there in the forest, he had no weekends off to mark the number of weeks. Every day looked the same; he got up, ate breakfast mostly consisting of grilled fish, rice, rolled omelets, whatever was closest in the fridge. He then went to the morning meeting where he listened to the Sound officials as they went through a list of news, some local and some not. He always listened closely, and since no one asked him questions or even cared about his presence he was left alone to think. Sound had few problems with outside forces, their neighbors (including Konoha) seemed to stay on their side of the border. No, a far more worrisome issue was the wave of break-ins that traveled from one village to the next in a malevolent stream of fear. No one knew if the thieves were shinobi or civilian citizens, but it was troublesome nonetheless. Kakashi subjected it all to memory to get a report to Tsunade later.

After the meeting it was time for training. Most of the groups were good at defense and protection, but not so much at planning and staging combats; individually they were clever, but once they were supposed to function as a group or team their cooperation faltered. It was a big difference in teaching a whole platoons' worth of nin ranked chuunin or higher instead of barely-made genins, but he found that he enjoyed the difference.

He ate lunch every day in the canteen, where everybody ate, and he usually sat alone in some corner. He didn't mind.

The afternoons were spent with the shinobi again, focusing on more theoretical lessons, troop formations, general tactics, showing them different scenarios and outcomes. He kept the afternoon classes short, usually about an hour, the remaining time he spent on writing a report to Tsunade, though of course he couldn't write anything too explicit since they read his letters (for everybody's sake he pretended he hadn't noticed, it was only to be expected) but instead hoped she would read between the lines. Not that there was anything exciting to report about.

In the beginning his job had simply been to live there and get acquainted with the Otogakure nin and their leaders, but a captain had almost gone nuts after seeing him loitering around day after day, and had gruffly ordered him to "teach the new recruits something, don't just stand there and look stupid." He'd held an impromptu class on chakra affinity and the shinobi were overjoyed. He wasn't aware of it at first, but he almost enjoyed being back in teaching, though with other students. He never told them anything important, but it was fun to see them so readily applying what he'd taught them on their training. Especially the younger students looked at him with awe, something that amused him to no end. They still thought he was cool. He wasn't even late that often.

Every night he went out on a run, making sure to stay in shape. He dreaded waking up one day and realizing he wasn't as fit as he used to be. When he came back he would read his book and fall asleep, only to begin again the next day. It bothered him and at the same time did not, having such a structured subsistence.

Exactly five months after he had gotten there a Sound shinobi had slowly begun to approach him. She was around twenty-five, he guessed, with black hair and green eyes. Her name was Riko, and she was the daughter of a general that had died in the last conflict. Like a curious cat she had strolled up to him when he wasn't looking, and he wasn't sure of how to deal with her invites. He liked her, she was funny and clever, but his heart was elsewhere. She seemed to sense it too because the careful nudges stopped. They kept talking though, and one day she dragged him out into the woods, following a thin path, leaves brushing against them on both sides as if the forest had done some thinking and had decided to revoke their right to travel through it.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" he asked after getting slapped across the face by an insisting branch.

She dodged the leaves expertly, "Yeah, we're almost there. I used to go here all the time with my friend before she moved to Konoha. Her name's Yuki, you know her?"

He took a second to think but came up with nothing. "I don't think so."

By then the path had gotten wider and she hurried up, her ponytail bouncing, the shining hair spreading out across her shoulders like a black tide, approaching and retreating with each of her steps. He looked up only to see the barren night sky, countless stars strewn across it and when she lay down in the thick grass he did the same, some distance away from her. They were at the edge of the forest with the village behind them, in front of them a valley stretched out between mountains. There was no moon and the stars were all on display, competing against each other.

"The first time we were here we had gotten lost on our way back after a mission, and we just sat down to rest for a while. And then we saw the stars..."

At the same time she was telling him she was talking to herself.

He was quiet, let his thoughts wander.

"Kakashi-san," she went on, now watchful.

He suspected which way the conversation was headed but did nothing to avert it. "Hm?"

"Do you... Do you have a girlfriend?"

Well, that was direct. He took a second to breathe, buy himself some time, couldn't see her expression from where he was but didn't sit up, didn't want to make a big deal out of it.

"Ah..." He knew he was supposed to continue, but didn't, _couldn't_.

"I understand," she said in a neutral voice, and he knew she wouldn't push the matter.

There was an earthy, soft sound as she leaned back against the grass and sighed.

"It sure is beautiful."

"Yeah," he agreed and looked up at the sky.

It was easier to keep him off his mind when he wasn't home, when he wasn't near, and during the last couple of months that wild, roaring sensation he'd felt had eased its grip a little bit, had become manageable. It wasn't gone, far from it, but it now felt like a slight buzzing in the background. Going away had done him good, he reasoned, lying on his back, legs crossed, one arm behind his head and the other beside him on the ground, fingers nestling in the grass. Of course he missed him, but this was better for everyone, that he'd try to forget and pretend like nothing.

Could it be called an infatuation (not love, it wasn't love) even if the person he thought of had no idea or feelings matching his?

It probably couldn't.

It had been five months since he'd left Konoha, five months since he'd last seen him, laughing and joking with Sakura. What was he doing now? Was he seeing anyone? Did he have someone special in his life? He was filled with dread at the thought but knew he had no right to feel that way.

What are you doing, Naruto?

Soon he'd get to see him. He wondered if he'd changed. Kakashi looked up into the endless void, only disguised by faint dots of yellow light, holding it back.

_I still think of you._

* * *

**Naruto**

He'd put his tent up by a little brook, and as he lay still he listened to its quiet beckoning, as it slowly ate its way into the ground that enclosed it. He still hadn't gotten used to the tent, a black, depressing wobbly thing, prone to collapsing on him at inappropriate times. But it was part of his training that he'd learn to put up and handle a tent, and so here he was, seventh week of ANBU training, fighting almost constantly when the sun was up, and at night keeping an eye out for attackers and such.

When Tsunade had first suggested it he'd been enthusiastic. He had very much enjoyed his mission in Iwagakure with Kakashi where he'd gotten to "infiltrate" their headquarter and claim to be somebody else. He thought he'd done good, Kakashi had praised him, and so he'd been quite upset to hear that his sensei didn't recommend it.

She'd started by telling him that it would be good for him to get some insight of ANBU and their working methods, a suggestion to which he readily agreed. He was a bit nervous, as he stood in her office. This was, after all, his future being decided.

"Did Kakashi talk to you about a career in ANBU?" she asked, looming over her steady wooden desk.

"He did," Naruto said, but then changed his mind. "Or, well, he asked me if I had considered it."

She furrowed her brows, sat up straighter, giving him all her attention.

"And what did you say?"

Naruto smiled. "Sure! I don't know which branch I want to join though."

Tsunade smiled a little, "Oh no, we're not discussing employment, just training."

He didn't follow. "...we are?"

She nodded, "Kakashi was actually the one who advised against it."

It took a moment for the meaning to sink in, and then he felt betrayed. He was hurt, betrayed, and suddenly doubtful. Why had he done that? Why was Kakashi doubting him? He was fully aware of the fact that he wasn't more than a relatively clever strategist, not like Shikamaru or even Kakashi himself that could think a dozen steps ahead. Was he simply not good enough? In Iwagakure it had seemed like Kakashi almost wanted him to join ANBU. What had changed?

"Why?" he asked, demanding a reason for his sudden change of heart.

The Hokage cleared her throat and looked at him again.

"When I asked him the same thing he said 'he doesn't have the heart'. Any idea what he meant by that?"

_He doesn't have the heart. _

What did that even mean?! He couldn't think of a single time he'd failed to do his bidding, or any order for that matter, because of his _heart. _He thought another while, and by then he was pretty sure he'd never been in such a position except once, and he was determined not to think about that, since it had been a necessity at the time, out on the battlefield. He'd only ever killed one person, Madara, though he had gravely wounded a lot. Like the time with the Akatsuki guy with five hearts, where he'd used his rasen shuriken for the first time. That time he hadn't even had the thought of finishing him off, had left it on Kakashi-sensei to end his misery. The misery Naruto had put him in... He didn't like hurting people, but he had to sometimes.

Tsunade was awaiting a reaction.

"I think it's unfair to not even let me try."

Who the hell was he to decide anyway?

She eyed him, putting plans into place that he had no idea of.

"I've talked to two ANBU operatives that will be in charge of your training. They're called Hound and Owl."

Naruto stifled a laugh.

"Starting tomorrow you will do everything they tell you to."

He nodded. Hound, huh? They really had to think of better code names, this was horrible.

His teachers, two masked ANBU nin had taken it upon them to learn him as much as they possibly could in the limited amount of time they had.

"You'll be forced to learn a hell of a lot faster than a regular student," Owl had explained their first morning together, on the outskirts of training ground ten.

"Normally this takes two years, and we have less than a fourth of that."

They were both fit, and seemed a bit older than himself. He couldn't tell if he'd met them before, but it didn't feel like it.

"I would refrain from thinking of this like the Academy," the man wearing a dog mask chimed in. "There you get to go home at the end of the day. You are not setting your foot inside Konoha unless we say so."

Naruto nodded, tried to swallow down a lump in his throat despite the fact that his mouth was as dry as a desert.

"Also..." Hound said, and Naruto couldn't see it but heard that he'd started smiling from the leer in his voice. "If you are having troubles, I won't hesitate to beat it into you."

After a quick evaluation Naruto had guessed Hound to be a bit younger, and Owl to be older and thereby the stern one, but after his statement he quickly changed opinion. Owl definitely made the calls, but Hound was the one to be especially wary of.

That was how his training started, an early Tuesday morning.

A little part of him had expected Kakashi to be the one to meet him, standing as impeccably slouching as always, looking nonplussed and interested at the same time. He hadn't even known he'd been hoping for it until he'd met his teachers' chakras and not recognizing them.

The whole thing had started with a test, or at least that was what he'd thought it was, the few moments he had over to think. They had started at six thirty, chasing him, surrounding him, making him fight them one by one. They were both experienced fighters, he could tell from their relaxed stances that constantly had him on edge, seeing which way he would move before he did it. He'd started out carefully, not wanting to hurt, a decision he'd quickly regretted when he'd lashed out at Owl only to get a harsh blow to the back of his head in return. He blinked away a couple of tears that sprung up because of the pain. _Ow. _They weren't playing nice. Then again, who could blame them?

_I'm a Jinchuuriki_, he thought, and spat out a mouthful of dirt. _Why aren't I acting like one?_

They were quick, and that just meant he'd have to be quicker. As soon as he'd entered chakra mode, speed wouldn't be a problem. But every time he got a second away from the battle, about to gather up energy and make the seals, they were there again.

"You need to become faster without relying on the Demon's strength. You lack stamina." Hound said sourly.

His words stung but he knew it was true, he was trusting Kuramas power too much. He had another thought.

"Wait, so I can't use chakra mode at all?"

Hound was now in front of him, surely about to haul himself forwards, he was vaguely aware of Owl circling him, in the forest, out of sight.

The man chuckled, "Of course you can. If you ever get the time to make the seals, that is..." and he had barely finished his sentence before he sent a wave of knives flying and Naruto had to duck. From behind him he sensed Hound's chakra and he veered, the one throwing the kunais must have been a clone.

The ANBU were a competent team, without talking they lured him into traps and ambushes. He had great use of his newly acquired ability to sense chakra and sent Kakashi-sensei a thankful thought. Though after a while it seemed they had figured out he knew which way they were approaching from and they changed tactics.

He didn't even know what time it was, just that it had gotten late and he was becoming tired. Not just tired, but exhausted, a weariness that made his movements slower and decisions increasingly hazardous. His teachers had sensed it and became more aggressive than before, he knew that was the point, to exhaust him, and thereby teaching him...something. He hated to admit it, but he wasn't sure how long he could go on for, now he was relying on Kurama's power to even stand upright. Going into chakra mode wasn't even on the map, every muscle of his body protested in agony every time he moved.

They were beside a little river, having boxed him in, not that it mattered since he could escape across the water if need be, but he remained, trying to catch his breath without letting it show. He had started to wonder when this hellish lesson would end so that he could rest for just a bit, maybe sit down... They all stood still for a moment, he opened his mouth as if to say something, anything, didn't know what yet. Hound was closest, saw the hesitation on his face.

"You're neither dead nor dying. Why the hell are you stopping?"

Naruto suspected any answer he would come up with would earn him an earful. He was quiet.

Hound pulled out a kunai with an explosive tag.

"You still think of this as training, you need to think of this as a real battle. Until you act accordingly, I will keep attacking you."

_Think of this as a real battle. _

What would he do in a real battle? All battles ended when you defeated the enemy.

He flung himself out of the kunai's path and doubled back to avoid the blast.

He tried to think logically about it, which was difficult enough even without people out to hurt him. The smartest person he knew was definitely Shikamaru. What would he do?

No doubt about it, Shikamaru would have played it differently from the start.

A clone of Hound had him teetering on the edge of the trees.

This wasn't working out, he needed to get away, to _think. _But how the hell did you go about that with two ANBU guards following his every move?

_I need to create a diversion. _Several diversions. In the middle of a forest.

The answer hit him, and he could have kicked himself for not thinking of it sooner. With a final rush of energy-soaked adrenaline he created a multitude of kage bunshins, all setting out in different directions with various speed. He hoped that if they all moved in a different way there would be no version that stood out and tipped them off.

Five minutes later he rushed back across the lake, confident that neither Owl not Hound had seen him. As he rushed on, deeper into the forest on the other side of the body of water he felt the clones' memories returning in chunks. It was a little unsettling to be discarded of so many times by his teachers, but they were just clones, he reminded himself. Maybe ten minutes later he felt the last one disappearing, but by then he was very far away. When he felt he couldn't go farther he climbed up a tree, created a new clone and put it in sage mode, while he leaned against a branch and instantly nodded off. So tired, but damn proud.

Ever since that first night he wasn't nervous anymore, he knew he'd be alright. It was a little flame within him, lit by pride. Slowly he learned how the ANBU were thinking, what to do when fighting them, and with a bit of luck, avoiding them long enough to get an hour or two of sleep. He learned to sleep lightly, otherwise they had time to gang up on him and, a few times when he was completely exhausted, they were able to sneak up on him and pour an entire bucket of ice cold water over him, Owl chuckling as he yelled and scrambled to his feet.

"You weren't paying attention. It is your own fault," Hound said pointedly.

Naruto muttered a couple of carefully chosen words that earned him another round of easy laughs, which only served to agitate him further.

After two months of the insane boot-camp they started having lessons on fighting styles and techniques, weapons, intelligence gathering, even a brief history of the ANBU-ops. His tutors gradually warmed up to him, Owl more so than Hound, who at least toned down his hostility a bit. The mornings were spent in a little, forgotten classroom in the Academy with Owl trying to teach him and Hound sitting in the back, usually nodding off. In the afternoons they were out, and he got used to the lifestyle, got used to waking up at five am, though by then he got to sleep in his own bed.

The days passed him by, he tried to commit them to memory but failed, the inside of his mind was like a ceramic bowl, smooth, refusing to leave any trace behind. Another three months passed and before he knew it they were done.

"I regret to say it, but the Hokage is wondering if you're ever coming back."

His head felt curiously empty of anything that wasn't military terms.

"Oh," he said. He cleared his throat, ransacked his brain for something a little more intelligent. "...already?"

Hound snorted. "Is it that fun getting your ass kicked?"

Naruto smiled back. "You have no idea."

Despite having spent so much time with them he still didn't know that much about either of them. And now he'd have to leave them. He'd tried asking them a little more personal questions and they hadn't answered, probably weren't at liberty to. He still regretted not having tried harder.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll see more of us," Owl added, as if having read his mind.

"If you ever change your mind about the service..." Owl continued, in that oddly neutral voice of his.

He started smiling again. "You'll be happy to kick my ass any day, you mean?"

Hound nodded. "That's right. Say hello to your sensei from me."

Naruto nodded again. "Will do." He turned around to pick up his backpack that he'd left on the ground, slung it over his shoulder. "Well I guess this is goodbye-"

He was alone. With a sigh he pushed the bag up further on his shoulder and he went home, listening to the inelegant sound of kunais and scrolls rattling around at his back.

* * *

**Kakashi**

After his sixth month in Sound country he had a meeting with the leaders and his appointed boss. They explained that his visit had been very beneficial but that his assistance was no longer required. It was only to be expected. He thanked them in return for the experiences gained, talked a little about their common future, words they all expected to hear without especially wanting to. They exchanged some more pleasantries and then he was free to go.

As he walked down the street, enjoying the smells of fresh dango for the last time, it almost felt as if he'd miss the place. It was calm and cozy. Of course also incredibly boring, despite the risk of having Orochimaru slithering up out of the closest hole in the ground at any given moment, but if you ignored that, it was a nice place.

It took him a little more than a day to get back to Konoha, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped inside the huge green gates.

He was home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Kakashi**

He opened his door, peering inside at the four walls he called home. _This is your life. _He'd been living there for he didn't even know how many years. It was quiet, barely any sound escaped the streets, and that was what he liked with the place. Quiet place, quiet neighbors.

He dumped his bag on the bed and went to the kitchen, grabbed a water bottle which he filled up only to empty it out in Mr Ukki's pot.

"Sorry it took a while," he muttered. "I've been away."

The plant had a survival instinct that wasn't of this world. It stood ever so sturdy by its usual place in the window. Defiant, unruly. After a final look at the apartment he closed the door upon the dusty surfaces.

Tsunades office was three floors up and he trudged up the stairs like a good employee. Usually he went through the window. Shizune was behind her desk, frantically filling out papers, only looking up for a second to identify the visitor.

"She's in a meeting," she said.

"I see. Can I leave a message with you?"

Shizune looked _pained, _but didn't say anything.

"I had orders to meet her and leave an additional report as soon as I got back. Or I can just come back another day..." he added hopefully.

The assistant sighed, knowing full well that it meant that he wouldn't be seen for at least a week. She took out a blank paper, ready to jot down his verdict.

"What do you want it to say?"

"No sign of Orochimaru. Seems they want to move on, forget he was ever there. Not hostile."

He was quiet, let her catch up.

"Supplementary info will be in the report."

She nodded, finished up, put it to the side. "I'll get it to her."

"Good."

He went down two floors, and with a bit of searching he managed to get his hands on an empty meeting room where he sat down to write. He did have an office, but it was dusty and dreadful.

He was thorough, went through all the work-related challenges and how he'd solved them. He evaluated Sounds military forces (average), risk behavior (low) and number of creepy snake sannins (zero). He thought about Riko, though of course he didn't mention her in the report. They had never interacted on an official level, and he had no obligation to account for his personal whereabouts.

She hadn't seemed all that shocked to learn that he would be leaving. Instead she had smiled, and said "I'm sure they miss you at home." He wasn't so sure about that, but hadn't protested. He shook his head to clear it of his reveries and kept on writing. It was a tedious process, trying to answer the Hokages questions before she had gotten the chance to ask them.

Time passed and the lines on the paper had multiplied, gotten out of control, were spreading as uncontrollably as a fire and when he finally put the pen down he felt empty, like a wrung out rag.

He left the report on Shizunes desk and got a stiff smile in return. Compared to her usual glare it almost felt unsettling. Image what doing things on time did to people. He went to the mailboxes to see what he had missed. The internal mail system worked well and people used it a lot. His assigned box was full and he emptied it out, went to the nearest table by the coffee maker in the break room and put them all there. Rubbish, some more rubbish, a party invitation (which had been a month ago), notice of death (one of his old classmates that he hadn't spoken to in years), someone had gotten married (he wasn't sure he even knew the guy), and a message from Gai urging him to make the most out of youth. To top it off there was a little pile of official announcements regarding additions to the codes of conduct. He read it all and then threw it away, not keeping any of the letters. He remained standing by the kitchen area for a moment, trying to figure out if there was something he had forgotten, then shook his head and left. He wanted to go on vacation with a clean conscience, knowing that there was nothing undone piling up.

The sun was bright enough to make him blink and it took a while for him to distinguish the person that had stopped in front of him. _Naruto_, he thought, and almost tripped over his name. He looked well, a bit thinner maybe, lankier, he was wearing some unusual clothes and Kakashi wasn't sure of where to look first. He realized he'd been ogling.

"Hi," he said, smiling, he was so happy to see him-

Naruto raised a finger, pointing at him, eyebrows furrowed, one hand on his hip and Kakashi knew he was gonna get an earful.

"Oi! You _liar!_ You said you wouldn't be gone that long! I've been waiting _half a year_ for my ramen."

He suddenly remembered he'd promised to go eat ramen with him as soon as he got back. He also recalled telling Naruto his mission wouldn't take that long.

_He'd remembered it._

"...Sorry I'm late?" he said sheepishly, retreating to safe grounds, to what was known.

Naruto sighed, sounding disgruntled. "I don't think you've ever been this late though."

Not wanting to discuss his questionable work ethics and shady morale over-all he tried to change the subject.

"Going somewhere?" he said and nodded at his clothes.

He looked down to see what he was referring to, shifted uncomfortably at the mere thought of having to dress a certain way. "Baa-chan called a meeting, telling me to dress respectable for once. I guess I'm supposed to meet someone."

Kakashi had an inkling as to who that might be but didn't say anything, didn't want to worry him. Instead he said:

"Don't worry, you look fine," which had some of the nervousness in his blue eyes settling down.

He wore black pants that clung to his hips in a most interesting manner, a black jacket, army style, and underneath he had an orange t-shirt and Kakashi stopped himself from smiling. Orange, orange, orange...

"Hound says hi, by the way," he said casually, throwing Kakashi for a loop. Wait, how did he...?

"So you have been training?" he asked as a way of confirmation.

Naruto nodded, smiled, "Yeah, it was pretty tough at first, haha."

No doubt about that. He and Hound had had a few run-ins, all of them ending with some bruises and a mutual scorn. He didn't particularly like the man but recognized his abilities. He got the job done and used the shortest way to get there, and that was all there was to it.

"Who taught you besides Hound?"

They surely must have had another person on their team, to push the jinchuuriki around to the degree fighting required surely needed two men.

"Owl," Naruto said and Kakashi nodded thoughtfully.

That made sense, he was older, a year older than him actually, able to even out some of Hound's more forceful tendencies. He was suddenly curious, made his mind up to pay him a visit.

"Crap, I'm almost late, I have to go."

"Oh, of course. I'll see you later."

He looked expectantly at him. "We can still go eat ramen, right?"

"Sure." He waved him off with a gesture meant to separate them, put distance in between. "Go, don't be late."

They started in separate directions, Naruto stopped and waved before going inside, Kakashi raised his hand in response but wasn't sure he saw it.

He decided to try his luck at the ANBU quarters, either Owl would be there or at least someone who knew where you could find him. Unless he was on a mission.

It was some ten years ago since he'd left the service and started teaching. It wasn't until the end of the last war that he'd gradually started approaching it again. He took missions, straight up ANBU missions, under the guise of "consulting", not yet having taken the step of actually reenlisting. Not much had changed in ten years, a lot of people had come and gone, but the objective had always stayed the same. He'd held the rank of a captain when he'd quit, and they were glad to have him back, if only for a while.

It was with a sense of purpose that he went through the practically invisible door and went to the main room with its sofas and comfy chairs. He recognized a familiar figure in one of the chairs, flipping through a magazine, senbon dipping up and down as he lazily chewed on it.

"Yo."

The brown haired man looked up. "Hi."

He felt himself being surveyed by a pair of intelligent eyes as his presence and reason for being there was analyzed.

They both knew it wasn't a social visit."What brings you here?"

"Have you seen Owl?"

Genma nodded, returned to his paper. "Last I saw him he was by his desk. Should still be there."

"Thanks."

He was on his way to leave when Genma spoke again. "There are lots of rumors out there."

There was indeed, all of them concerning a very important job opening. He wanted to know if Kakashi could confirm it, being as involved as he was. "So I've heard," he answered just as cryptically, didn't want to be blabbering. They would hear it soon enough.

He found Owl at his desk, just as promised, the mask laying beside him on the sleek surface, a blank reminder of who he really was. Owl, or Kosei which was his real name, had graduated from the Academy a year before Kakashi. He had a pleasant face and light brown hair. He didn't have a family name to rely upon, instead he'd forced very hard to get a leading position. He was serious about his work, but easy going otherwise, taking things in stride. Ever since the first time they had met, Kakashi liked him. He was one of the few people where the first impression never had changed.

"Hatake," he said as a way of greeting and nodded, but didn't get up.

"Hasegawa," he countered, bowed slightly and then looked around at the beige anonymous walls. "I heard you were the one in charge of Narutos training."

Kosei looked back at him with an indiscernible look, probably estimating how much to tell him.

"It was both Watanabe and I actually."

"How did he do?"

He peered at him from where he sat. "He tries hard. Hound took quite a liking to him."

There was a quiver in his lip, like he was trying not to smile. "He didn't even yell at him."

_Add another person to the list of his admirers,_ he thought. "What else?"

"We taught him the basics, not so much theoretical strategy, we didn't have that much time and figured we would leave that to the people around him. I know Nara's supposed to be one of them, so I'm not worried."

Kakashi nodded, go on.

"He did manage to surprise us once."

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh?"

There was that held back smile again, as if he was amused that a mere trainee had gotten the drop on him.

"It was the first day, it was late and we had been fighting for hours, not giving him the chance to enter sage mode, tiring him out, you know the drill. He wasn't long from giving in and we had him surrounded, we were in the forest by then and not a second later _we _were the ones surrounded."

Kage bunsin of course, Kakashi thought.

"He barely had enough energy to run, and then he goes and makes a bunch of clones?" He shook his head. "_Nuts. _Anyway, we counted them and hunted them down, and when we get to the last one, that turns out to be a clone too. I know for a fact we disposed of every single one."

_Apparently you didn't, _he thought. Though it wasn't like them to get sloppy. "Then what?"

"We found him an hour later, in the opposite direction we'd been going in, sleeping in a tree."

Kakashi chuckled, a content sound. "That sounds like him."

"Also I think he's had some kind of chakra training, a lot of the times it seemed he knew when we were trying to ambush him."

"That would be my doing," Kakashi admitted. "We had some time over on our previous mission and I thought it would be useful."

Kosei nodded. "It is."

They were both quiet for a while.

"He's gonna go far," the other man said with an acquired finality.

"I know."

Kakashi could do nothing but agree.

* * *

**Naruto**

He was nervous. No point in denying it, he thought, as he stood in front of Tsunade baa-chans desk, heart pumping energetically in his chest. They were both still, Tsunade knowing and he sensing that this was it. This meeting was what his life had piled up to, everything had led him there, every certain, idiotic proclamation that one day he'd be the Hokage and they all could just wait and shut up and watch him because he was Uzumaki Naruto, that was his name, and as surely as that was his name he was making this happen. And now he was here, now all the endless, lonely days of his childhood had been compressed, he went through them in a second, and none of that mattered because he was here, and he had heard that Tsunade was retiring, and _he was here._ She couldn't hold it off any longer, couldn't hold his furiously beating heart back off any longer, it needed permission to break apart and explode, and she was the only one who could allow it to do so.

"As I'm sure you're aware, I plan on stepping down..."

She let it hang in the air, a sentence that meant to many things that it struck him as rude, and he held his breath to wait for the words that would come next, that he had been begging to hear ever since he'd been old enough to raise his head at the monument, knowing that it was his father that looked back.

"The position as Hokage-"

He had never wanted anything more in his whole life, he was writhing, hoping with a ferocity demented enough to make anyone nervous. He opened his mouth to gape a "yes!" and thereby engraving it onto the air that he so readily used to fill his lungs, but Tsunade held a hand up, meaning _let me finish_, and he settled down.

"The position as the Rokudaime Hokage. Will you accept it?" and then he finally got to say _yes. _

His face hurt from smiling so much but he didn't notice, his head was empty and crammed at the same time, numb and yet coiling, and he couldn't stop himself from praying that the entire thing wasn't a dream, a dream so believable it made his chest hurt.

"Well then," she said and smiled, stood up from behind her desk. "Now that that's settled, I want you to meet the council."

She walked around the desk and gestured towards one of the doors to the right, held it open for him.

"You go first."

His legs were shaking imperceptibly but he steadied himself and went through it.

_They're old, _was his first thought as his gaze surveyed the room. Mostly men, some women, all looking at him expectantly.

"Hello," he said, feeling stupid, but did some kind of little inclination of his head anyway, to be on the safe side. Did they expect him to put on a show of some sort? Do a card trick? Was he meant to woo them? Tsunade appeared beside him, put a protective hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure him.

"I think introductions would be in order," she said, not asking but telling. Then followed a string of names and titles, none of which he could recall afterwards. He nervously wondered if there would be a quiz on it, was he meant to be writing it down? In the beginning they kept quiet and listened to whoever was talking, but it gradually became louder in the room, as they were all making suggestions for policy changes and votes and after a while his head started to feel bleary. Tsunade must have seen it on him because she ended the conversation she'd been having and went over to him, steering him away from a bunch of greedy-looking men holding charts.

"I know it's a lot to take in, but you're required to meet the council once, and they have to approve of you before you do anything else."

"So when do I know if they accept me?" he asked weakly, fearing he hadn't made such a stellar impression.

She chuckled, "They already have. Everybody wants to talk to you, get your opinion."

He was relieved. "What happens now?" he said, still not aware of how much his life must be changing by now, he couldn't feel it. His mind was an isolated system, only focusing on the task at hand, which was to make sure he didn't make a complete fool out of himself.

"Now we start the official process, there's a whole mountain of paperwork to deal with. I'll send for you when I need you to sign something."

He wasn't sure of how to ask the question that was in his mind.

"How-, I mean, when do I, uh..."

"About two weeks. It takes time to finish everything up. Take the time off, take it easy."

He nodded, as if in a daze. The members of the council had started squabbling, and judging from her non-reaction, it was the normal state of things. He was then allowed to leave, and did so shakily. The second he got home he flung himself on his bed, all raw nervousness and new impressions weighing heavily on him like a bag of rocks.

When he woke up it was evening, dusk filling the room with its special pinkish color. He remained in bed, looking up at the ceiling, the beige squares, as he tried to get his thoughts in order. He would be the Hokage soon. The entire village would trust him to protect them, defend them, take care of them. They all depended on him. He felt elated and scared at the same time. Lying there and worrying surely wouldn't make it better so he got up, pulled on his jacket and went outside to get some air.

It was a nice evening, the air still warm and his light jacket was just enough. He went to the supermarket and bought an ice cream, a blue one, it felt just right for the occasion. He then hurried up to his favorite bench, the one over-looking the town and the monument. There he sat down and started nibbling at the icy goodness. The ice cream wasn't all that amazing in itself, but rather the memories that came with eating it, of all the people that he'd shared the same kind of ice cream with. Iruka, Jiraiya, Sakura... Had his parents been alive they surely would have shared too. Though they would have been three people, his parents and him, and only two parts ice cream. He thought about it for a while as it was a pleasant problem, one he wanted to think about. His mom and dad probably would have shared one. Or he would have given his share to either of them. Or maybe he would have gone on two separate occasions, so that everyone would get one each. By then he'd finished a half and quickly got to work on the other, not wanting it to go to waste. For some reason he was content with eating ice cream all by himself. This was his moment, what he'd been waiting for ever since he'd been little.

He looked at the monument, as always when he had those kinds of thoughts. Up there was an image of his dad. He tried to visualize what he himself would look like, cut out of the rock. It was a fine collection of shinobi that were staring out across the village. He had large shoes to fill, he thought solemnly. But it was a worry he was glad to bear.

He finished the other half as well and took some time just looking at the little town, his home, the vague curve by the end of the houses where the forest caught up, the big building in the middle where Tsunade's office was, and then he searched for his own place, the crammed apartment that he'd never worked up the courage to leave. He should get a bigger place. Maybe a house even, but the thought weighed heavily on him. He didn't want all that unoccupied space for himself. When the rooms were small you almost didn't notice if they were empty, if they were lacking something more. He knew there was supposed to be a person there, with him, that that was somehow the default setting, and that he was breaking some kind of rule by not ending up like the others. He was reminded of it a lot as he looked at his friends, growing up, and some already settling down. There was a human shaped hole in his life but he simply walked around it, trying not to notice, because what good would it do?

He got up from the bench, grabbed the empty wrapper and tossed it in a bin he walked by. He wondered if his view of the village would change afterwards, if he'd look at it in a whole new light. Would he feel differently about the people in it? Down by the playground a bunch of kids were playing, their voices becoming mingled with each others as they nestled into the night. They were playing, laughing, calls turned into yelps and he heard running upon the dusty ground and then they were laughing again.

_Will I worry about you? Should I?_

When he came back to his apartment he stepped out of his sandals, took off his jacket, went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth. He climbed into bed, nestled in under the covers until he was comfortably lying on his stomach, content.


	3. Chapter 3

**Naruto**

As he got up the next day he grudgingly accepted the fact that his home looked like shit. He got to work, cleaning properly for the first time in a long, long while. He hated cleaning, was mostly outdoors or away, basically only coming home to eat and sleep. A lot of the nervous urge to sanitize stemmed from the previous days happenings. If he was going to lead Konoha, he probably shouldn't let his apartment look like it did. It took a couple of hours but then it finally began looking decent. He cringed at the thought of letting visitors in with trash bags strewn across the floor. He wasn't sure of when he'd given up on keeping his home pristine. Like a lot of other things it had probably happened gradually.

When the apartment was clean he went shopping, took his time picking out the food, studied the vegetables before finally deciding on a few. As soon as he'd been good enough to go on more difficult missions his paychecks had increased, ultimately letting him live comfortably, if not in grandeur than at least without having to turn every coin. He got home, put the groceries in the fridge and then took a shower. Half an hour later he stood in his clean apartment, the fridge full of food, and he was _bored. _He decided to make a late lunch, and that didn't take him more than twenty minutes. The ticking of his clock ate away at him, ground his bones into dust, beating it into him just how little he was doing. He decided to go for a walk.

Further away he could see the road to the training grounds but he ignored it since he'd just eaten. Instead he walked down the streets without a specific goal in mind.

"Naruto! Wait up!"

He turned around and was almost run down by Konohamaru, as eager as always. "I heard you were away training. Did you learn a lot of new jutsus?"

Was that really how he seemed like to him? Naruto wondered and smiled. "Not really. I ran around, mostly," he said, deciding to be honest.

He said goodbye then, having decided who he most wanted to see. As if having read his mind she was just about to quit for the day and waved when she saw him further down the hall.

"Hi! How are you?" he asked.

Sakura took her bag and smiled. "I'm good! You?"

"I'm good."

This was what he needed, he thought, as they walked towards her apartment on the other side of town, idly chatting. Sakura was in many regards his best friend, after the thing with Sasuke they had both matured, and in Sakuras case, grown a bit more fond of each other. After the whole ordeal in Iron Country, where she had tried to to convince him that she loved him so that she could go and meet Sasuke alone, his feelings had taken a sharp and painful term. She hadn't chosen him, and given time, she probably still wouldn't. He'd come to terms with that eventually.

Before long he found himself on a chair by her kitchen table, a cup of hot tea in front of him, watching her as she rummaged around, cooking dinner. They talked mostly about what she had going on, and that was how he wanted it. The only thing he wanted to tell her about he was strictly forbidden to mention. An hour or so later the door was opened and a voice called out "I'm home!", soon met by Sakuras "Welcome back!". Lee appeared in the doorway, smiling pleasantly, his youthful bowl cut standing askew after a long day.

"Long time no see!" he said, and Naruto said something polite in return.

He only remained a short while after that, wanting to let them eat dinner in peace. He hated to feel like he was invading.

The next day he wasn't sure of what to do, he wasn't used to having that amount of time on his hands. What was he supposed to be doing for two weeks? Tsunade had asked him to stay in Konoha, if he was needed for the official transition, or more correctly, his signature was needed.

He spent the day on the training ground ten, it was the farthest away and it was rarely people there. He did some exercises and reviewed his training. He felt stupid without a teacher, hopping around on his own. He eventually settled for running laps until he was properly tired and left feeling defeated. Training on his own wasn't all it was made out to be.

He repeated the procedure for three days and on the fourth day he sat down on the warm ground instead, let the sun lick down upon him insistently. It was another hot day, and judging from the lack of shadows it was around noon. He remained there for a while, in the middle of the grand clearing, thinking about what to do next. He could always ask Kakashi-sensei... He always took the time to help him out. Maybe he could help him with some genjutsu training, which he grudgingly admitted was his weakest point. At the thought of actually having some proper training to look forward to he jumped up and went to the main building, where he knew he had his office. With a bit of luck he'd be there.

Ten minutes later it turned out Naruto didn't have the bit of luck that was required. Kakashis office seemed abandoned, no one had been there for a long while, he could tell from the dusty surfaces. He thought about asking someone by the academy, but then remembered that Kakashi had stopped teaching some years ago, and therefore no one there would know. There had to be someone who knew where he was. He kept his eyes open for either Iruka or Gai or even Genma, which he had seen him interact with a few times. As a last resort he went to Tsunades office where his request to see the Hokage was shot down.

"She's in a meeting. Is it important?"

He shook his head. "I wondered if she had seen Kakashi-sensei lately."

Shizune searched around in a drawer and then pulled out a paper which she studied. "He's on vacation."

That explained it. "When does he get back?"

She checked the paper. "Five weeks."

Naruto sighed. He couldn't rob the man of his vacation by asking him to hold a training session. "Okay, thanks anyway," he said, and if he sounded a little glum that's because he was, damn it.

"What was it that you wanted help with?" she asked, just as he was about to leave.

"I wanted him to train me."

She smiled encouragingly. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind a visit. He would never say anything, but I think being on leave is boring him half to death."

He nodded thoughtfully.

"I'll think about it," he said, thanked her, and then went outside.

Left or right, left or right...

Going right would take him home, going left would take him to Kakashi's place. He stood still, undecided, thinking about what Shizune had said. He went left.

It felt surreal to walk through the village, knowing that he'd soon be the Hokage, that his face would be up on that hill. And yet the world remained the same.

He took a right by an apartment complex and went up the stairs, taking his time. When he knocked on the door nothing was heard. He waited and then knocked again. He wondered if his sensei had an aversion towards doing anything within a certain amount of time, if he had always been this stubborn. He knocked a fourth time, having decided to wait until he got his lazy ass in gear. Naruto knew he was there, he could feel his chakra, a faint sharp smell, a presence soaked in actions beyond its control. He hadn't heard Kakashi approach the door and so he was surprised as it was opened, revealing the silver haired man, who was looking positively sleepy.

"Uh...hi," Naruto said.

Kakashi leaned against the doorway, he really looked tired, had he been sleeping in the middle of the day?

"Hi. What can I do for you?"

He was taken aback by his brisk tone. Maybe he just wanted to get back to bed.

He felt silly but couldn't turn back now, then it would have been in vain. "I have some time over before, uh-" He stopped himself. He wasn't supposed to talk about that. "Anyway, I wondered if you could train me? I mean, with me?"

Kakashi looked at him. Time passed.

He was just about to throw his hands up and declare that it had all been a joke when he answered, "Sure."

He smiled, relieved. "Great! Are you free tomorrow?"

Kakashi nodded. "Yeah."

It seemed he was going to have to do the talking. "Training ground ten is probably free. How about we meet there at eleven?"

"Mhm."

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow!"

Kakashi blinked, the visible eye gradually becoming more awake. "Yeah... bye then."

For about three seconds, as he walked down the stairs, Naruto felt like an idiot. He hadn't seemed all that enthusiastic to have his former student back under his tutelage. But it wasn't like he'd forced him into anything. And besides, it was only for a couple of days, at most a week. It would be good to tire himself out, he didn't like having nothing to do.

As he got ready the following day he wondered when to go to the their meeting place. Kakashi would probably be late and he didn't feel like standing there with nothing to do. Eventually he decided on being there on time, figuring that _if _he would by some miracle show up on time he didn't want to be the foolish one.

Of course, he wasn't on time. Naruto had finished three laps around the field when he arrived on the broad path, and as Naruto approached him he threw two fingers up in a little wave.

"Yo."

Some things never changed. "You're late!" Only fifteen minutes actually. He was amazed.

"Maa, you see, I had to help an old lady with her groceries."

He raised his eyebrows. "Uh-huh," not buying his story for a second.

"Anyway," Kakashi continued, where he stood in the sun, "Is there something specific you want help with?"

"Chakra training." It slipped out before he'd gotten the chance to think it through. His sensei didn't seem surprised but put his hands in his pockets, looked at him intently.

"How about learning to conceal it? Even if you're not joining ANBU, it'll be useful for you."

He nodded, urged him on. "How do we start?"

They moved so that they stood in the middle of the clearing.

"How far does your chakra reach?" Kakashi asked.

Was this a trick question?

"I don't know," he said, feeling hesitant. "It's kind of...everywhere."

Ever since he'd trained with the toads he had gotten used to sensing chakra all around him. It was kind of difficult to determine where it ended and the natural energy began.

Kakashi nodded. "Aha. You see those two trees over there?" He pointed towards the trees in question, some meters away. "Imagine that there's a wall between them, letting no chakra past it."

Eh? He didn't even know what was his chakra.

Kakashi went to sit by a rock and picked up his book. Figuring that that was all the information he'd get out of the man, Naruto closed his eyes and focused on clearing his mind.

He put his hands together, relaxed his body, controlled his breathing, felt the machinery shutting down, like turning off lights, one by one. His hands were steady. Further away he could feel the trees and he concentrated on them, tried to stop his chakra from flickering like it did, it refused to stay still, melted into every material available. Where should he draw the line? Where was it far enough? He focused the power lines, barely noticeable, that circled out from his form.

The sound of a book snapping shut woke him from his mindful state.

"Ne Naruto, maybe it's time for a break. You've been standing there for over two hours."

He wasn't aware of any time passing at all, just that he could feel the strings of chakra in the ground, like strands of hair splayed out beneath a layer of sand. His mind felt sore, hyper aware of the changes in nature. He put his hands down and sighed. He turned around and went to sit down by Kakashi, opposite him, sloshed himself down onto the ground in a motion completely lacking of finesse. He ran a hand through his hair, it was sticky with sweat.

"Is this really how you do it in ANBU?" It seemed ridiculous to think that a bunch of assassins stood and focused on objects further away until their brains felt like mush.

Kakashi nodded. "It's pretty high class though. A lot of the missions are infiltrations, blending in with shinobi, and then it doesn't matter if other people can feel your chakra. But it's very useful if you want to have the upper hand in a battle, since your enemy won't know which direction you're coming from."

A pause. He seemed to debate whether or not to say what was on his mind.

"...or if you want to get away from your bodyguards."

"So you know." He'd heard he was going to be the Hokage.

Kakashi smiled. "I first heard it mentioned half a year ago, ever since we came back from our mission. Though I've known it much longer than that."

He wasn't sure what he meant by that, so he only offered "I see," in return.

The sun felt nice against his skin, and they sat in silence for a while. He leaned backwards, supported by his arms, thinking about nothing in particular, his head blissfully empty.

A while later he got up again with a regretful sigh and got to work again.

One day later he still hadn't made any progress and the sun was setting, making everything look swept in pastel cotton. He turned his back on the two trees and walked towards his teacher, weary to the bone. He wiped some sweat off with his sleeve, too tired to think properly. He was hungry too but knew he didn't have enough energy to cook when he got home.

"How about that ramen?" he asked, and Kakashi looked back at him, slightly surprised. "Sure."

They went to Ichiraku, both ordering their favorite kind of noodles. There wasn't a lot of people and they sat down in a booth in the far back. He sighed and stretched, pleased as he heard his joints pop, relieving some tension.

They were quiet except for a shared _itadakimasu _over the food. He watched as Kakashi pulled his mask down and started on his noodles. He knew he didn't like it when he stared at him and so he looked down at his own bowl. He was glad to be trusted. He remembered the first time he'd seen his face , on their last mission together, and back then he had almost choked on his food from the pure shock of it. It felt odd to see him without it but he welcomed it, he finally got to see some part of him, of the elusive copy ninja who'd always been so remote and secretive.

He went back to his food, his ramen, that he'd been missing for such a long time. It was beyond him how something so simple could taste so inherently _good._

After a while his gaze wound up on the other side of the table. There wasn't a lot of other things to look at. Kakashi only had eyes for his food, and for the umpteenth time he wondered why he wore a mask. There was nothing wrong with his face. It was a little pale maybe, but that wasn't so weird considering he covered it all the time. Wait, was that a...? He couldn't help a quiet chuckle, and Kakashi looked up from his noodle reveries, wearing a doubtful expression, as if questioning whether or not it was him that he'd been smiling at.

"What?"

"You have a tan line." In his dead tired state it felt hilarious, being as tired as he was, it almost felt like being drunk.

Kakashi pursed his lips at his remark, shook his head a little, but didn't answer.

"I'm sorry," he went on, scolding himself when remembering his manners, "I just... noticed."

They continued on in silence, more people came into Ichiraku's and Naruto watched as a couple took a seat in the booth across the floor from theirs. When he looked back at Kakashi a second later he'd finished his food and pulled the mask up.

He felt stupid, going a whole meal without talking about anything in particular but he was too tired to hold a decent conversation and his sensei didn't seem to mind. Not that he seemed especially happy either, he realized. Maybe he'd felt forced to train him. He felt a little guilty at the thought and was quiet when they said goodbye.

* * *

**Kakashi**

He had wanted him to try and get a feel for it first, without adding instructions that further complicated the matter. Now it had been three days since he'd agreed to train him and he figured it was time to try something new. Learning to distinguish his chakra was the first step, which he had cleared. Next up was making it stop where he wanted it to. In ANBU they had used a variety of exercises, gradually becoming more difficult, but he knew it was better for Naruto with a more hands on approach.

"Okay, I want you to try something new today," he said. They were by their usual spot on training ground ten. "You know the pose the Hyuugas use in their fighting?"

Naruto nodded eagerly.

"I want you to try using that, and simply pushing the chakra forwards."

His expectant expression had been exchanged into a much more skeptical one. "Huh?"

Kakashi showed him what he meant; bent his knees, lightly crouching, his right hand held by his side, the left one stretched out with his fingers together. Of course he wouldn't be able to perform any of the Hyuugas techniques, but the movement in itself could help him centralize his chakra, get it moving.

After inspecting how he had done it Naruto adopted the stance.

"Try raising your left arm a bit-, good."

He stepped back, took a critical look, comparing it to the image in his head. He'd seen a few Hyuugas fighting through the years and he'd looked at them with his Sharingan, thinking that there was something to be gained by every jutsu, and he'd been right. Naruto tried the move out, he pulled his headband up to follow the chakra better and, yes, there was a reaction, but not enough. He stepped forward, hesitant to be imposing on him.

"You're still a bit tense, relax your elbow. No, the left one."

Naruto changed his position, making it worse.

"Wait, let me show you."

He walked closer so that he stood beside him, Naruto stood still, awaiting his correction. He took a light grip on his elbow, and with his other hand he moved Narutos hand. "Look, you have to be able to move your elbow."

Naruto nodded, let himself be molded by his hands.

He released his grip, took a step back, "Try it now."

The blond did an experimental jab through the air, making ripples in the chakra. Much better. After a while he was able to stop the chakra with the two trees as a reference point, and made sure that nothing passed between them. Seeing as he'd passed the that level as well, they moved along. Kakashi grabbed a stick lying nearby and drew a big circle on the ground, maybe ten metres across. Narutos job was to stand in the middle, and keeping all his chakra inside. After failing for the sixth time an exasperated growl was heard.

"Dammit!"

Kakashi was quickly there to reassure him, having given up on reading entirely. "Think of this as your training with Jiraiya. What did you do with the chakra?"

Naruto furrowed his brows. "Uh..."

He waited patiently. The answer would stick a hundred times better if he figured it out instead of being told.

"I spun it?"

"Exactly. This is the same thing, on a much larger scale."

It took some time, but then he managed it, with his Sharingan he could see it clearly. It was like finally being able to see the wind and not just feeling it.

During the following days his chakra control got better until he could start fighting without it pouring out like it usually did. Hopefully it would help his fighting too, it couldn't be smart to go around wasting it like that. In the beginning he had planned on doing some fight training but that had quickly been forgotten once as soon as they had started running through the trees. Instead the whole thing had turned into some kind of no-rules game of tag, with shadow clones and shurikens and kunais and feints and at the end of the day he didn't mind one bit. As the evening grew near they sat down by a little brook right by the road back to the village.

"Good job with the shuriken back there. You almost hit me." A throwing star had come dangerously close to his arm, he'd been slacking off just a second and Naruto had noticed, the man in question smiled, his eyes seemed deeper in the rays of the dying sun.

"It's dangerous to let your guard down, sensei..."

He met his eyes. "I'll keep that in mind."

He had certainly improved under the ANBU tutelage, he'd grown quiet and fast, moving through his environment in a new way, unparalleled by anything he'd seen before. Naruto got up to leave, their session clearly over, and he got up as well.

"Same time tomorrow?" he said.

Kakashi was just about to agree when he remembered that he wasn't free, after all. "I can't, I have a meeting and I don't know how long it will take."

Naruto nodded. "I see. Well, I'll talk to you later then."

He felt brushed off by his cool reaction. It wasn't a big deal. _And it shouldn't be for me either. _

"See you," he said lightly, and they went their separate ways.

The next morning he woke up a bit later than he should, admittedly, and stumbled out of bed, aiming for the bathroom and a shower. He turned the faucet on to full capacity and almost flung himself out of the bathroom once the water touched his skin. _Ice cold. _The water heater must be acting up again. He took a very quick shower, cursing during most of it, angrily marched back to his bedroom only to realize he'd forgotten to do his laundry. _That's what you get for running around outdoors, idiot. _He settled for his least frumpy clothes and went to the kitchen. He hadn't done any shopping either.

He was hungry, he felt stupid in his dirty clothes and he was tired of this day already. With a sigh that could only be called passive aggressive he went to the main building, maybe an hour late. He felt no particular inclination as to hurrying up, he didn't know why Tsunade had ordered him to participate in a meeting on his vacation, but judging by the theme of the day, which was disappointment, it surely was something bad.

"You're late."

What was it with people calling him late? She and Naruto must have taken classes. He ignored her remark, as he did all others, placed himself in front of her desk and waited for her judgment.

She must have sensed that he was in no mood for small talk and went straight to business. "Naruto needs a bodyguard, and both the council and I agree that you would be the best choice."

_Wait, what._

Now that, he hadn't seen coming. His mind directly raced to the most important questions. Could he do the job? Of course. He'd held the same position a lot of times in his work, that wasn't the problem.

_Do I want to? _

His heartbeat sounded slow even to his own ears. He knew he would lay down his life without a thought. But...

"If that's the councils wish..." he said, not knowing why he said it, just that he was saying what he always was saying, yes, he was agreeing to something he wasn't sure of, like he usually did, and now he'd done it again, it was too late, the words hung in the air, waiting to be captured and dressed into new clothes of meaning.

Tsunade nodded briskly. "Good. You'll start as soon as your vacation is over."

"But-"

"Not negotiable." It never was with her. "Considering the state of things," now she meant the peace, "it probably shouldn't be necessary with such a heavy security detail, but we would rather be on the safe side."

He was stunned.

He nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

**Naruto**

He took a deep breath, sat down in the couch outside Tsunades office, put his head in his hands. It felt like a dozen eels were wrecking havoc with his stomach, he was so _nervous. _He was glad he was alone in the room.

The door clicked open, Tsunade appeared. She had been guiding him through all this, knowing the mind-numbing responsibilities. She took him to a different room and there he got to put on the hokage coat, the same kind he'd seen on her back, flashing before him in battles. He put it on with respect, his motions were soft, as not to wrinkle the snow white fibers, but also with a sense of carelessness since he knew he'd be doing it every day. The coat was his to do with as he pleased and yet he revered it, the sturdy fabric and the carefully made signs that ran down the back. _Rokudaime Hokage. _Tsunade handed him the hat, their gazes met. He took it from her, out of her outstretched hands. It was surprisingly light. He fumbled with it for a second and then turned to her.

_Do I look alright? _

She nodded, crossed her arms, looked at him intently. Did he look like his father? Who did he remind her of? Maybe she was thinking of Jiraiya. Or Dan. They had lost so many it was impossible to decide whose eyes she longed for.

"You ready?"

He nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be."

It was windy outside, though not uncomfortably so. The breeze played amongst the decorations, making them dance. The formal introduction didn't last that long, Tsunade said a couple of words about who he was and for a second he wondered why she bothered, as if there was someone there who didn't know him. Once again with the formalities and he subjected himself to it, and then he got to step forward, look out across the lines of people that had gathered. He hadn't even known there was this many people in the village!

He recognized a lot of them, team ten, team eight, over there was Iruka who was looking teary eyed and then he had to look away because he feared he'd might start crying too. Sakura too, though there was no sign of Sasuke which wasn't surprising, and there was Kakashi and Gai, Genma, Kurenai... He couldn't believe that all these people had gathered there for his sake. _Every damn day, _he vowed. _I will do my best, every day. _His first appearance didn't take much longer than that, it was just a public announcement of sorts.

Then he got to meet the people that would be working with him and his new office got crowded.

"Naruto already knows what I look like, why do I have to-" a familiar voice drawled and his head snapped up. Shikamaru! Sure enough, there he was. "What a drag."

He was very pleased with their choices so far. It was Tsunade that had gotten the lengthy job of introducing his staff. Once again he wondered if he was meant to remember all these names. He felt flustered, sitting behind his desk, greeting all the people with a sheepish grin on his face. It took a while but eventually the queue ran out of visitors and Tsunade closed the door.

"You should introduce yourself too," she said and made a come hither movement aimed towards the corner. An ANBU guard stepped forward and for a second Naruto wondered how long he'd been there. He pulled the mask up, bowed deeply.

"My name is Uma. I'm very honored to meet you." They exchanged greetings.

First Owl, then Hound and now Horse. What did they do when they ran out of animals?

"Uma is only here as a replacement until one of his colleagues gets back. He will accompany you to all your meetings and such." Naruto nodded. He wasn't sure of whether or not he actually had a say in these things or if they were just decided for him. For now he decided to trust their judgment. Uma put his mask back on, like smoothing out the wrinkles in a tablecloth, becoming expressionless. Now he was nothing more than his actions.

Tsunade then proceeded to show him the more practical sides of the job, mostly paperwork. Every time he blinked all that he could see was blank fields waiting to be filled out. When he finally got to leave it was already evening. In the outskirts of his consciousness he could feel the ANBU guards spreading out like a fan behind him. They were good, he could just barely sense them but as soon as his attention went elsewhere he lost them. A lot of people stopped him on his way back home to congratulate him and exchange a couple of words. A few people just stared and a boy dropped his ice cream when Naruto waved at him.

He rushed up the stairs to his apartment, a sense of elation coursing through him, winding him up. Before he went inside he took a second to look around, to view the town he'd grown up in. How small it seemed now, what had used to be his world. When he got inside he hung his coat up with care and then went to the kitchen. He didn't know if he was meant to be out and celebrating. A part of him wanted to, but it also felt like it would sully the occasion. Better to go about his business as usual. He made instant ramen, and sitting by his kitchen table with the murmurs of the people on the street as an ever present background noise, he couldn't help but to feel incredibly pleased. When he'd finished his food he was still feeling energetic; he wanted to be outdoors. He decided to go see the memorial, trace his fingertips along the outlines of his parents names. He didn't put on the coat, wanted to be as anonymous as possible, and he left wearing his usual clothes. It was in the middle of summer and all around him people were busy enjoying it, basking in the remaining warmth with a lazy obsession. He stayed off the busy streets, enjoyed being inconspicuous, to be on the outside looking in.

He trudged up the stairs and then stopped dead in his tracks for a moment. There was already someone there. A someone with silver hair sticking out in unruly ways. Naruto wasn't surprised and kept on walking.

"I was just telling your dad how good you looked in that hat of yours." Kakashi said and turned around. "Though you seem to have left it at home."

He closed in, nodded. "Yeah, I did."

Now he stood beside him, both facing the smooth gray surface and the names it held. He tried to explain his behavior, most of all to himself. "I think... I didn't want to come here as the Hokage. I wanted to come here as me."

Kakashi nodded. Naruto looked back at the polished list, searched for the two names he thought of. They were a little ways down, to the left, beside each other.

"Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing," he admitted. The words came from some dark part of him, that despite his many friends and fulfilled dreams was convinced he was never enough, neither as a shinobi or a person. There was a part that always told him he could have, and should have, done more... "I was always dead last in the academy, and now I'm supposed to lead _a village?_ What if I screw it up?"

"Naruto," he interrupted him, and in his pondering state he wondered if he had ever heard anyone utter his name that way. "I trust you."

He did?

"I trust you," he repeated. "So don't worry. Whatever happens, I know you'll work it out."

He blinked. He wasn't sure of how to deal with his words.

"Uh," he said, trying to think of something that was comprehensible. No dice. His head was as empty as a breakfast bowl.

"Thank you," he said eventually. Because that was how he felt.

* * *

**Kakashi**

The village adjusted itself quickly, and soon stories could be heard about the new Hokage doing this and that. As far as he could tell, people were pleased. That time by the memorial he'd wanted to say something about his parents and how proud they would have been. But he didn't, he surely must have heard it a dozen times by then.

He'd been the Hokage for a week now. He wondered how he was doing. On a whim, at lunchtime on a Monday, he decided to go see him. He went in through the open window, making the ANBU in the corner shift uncomfortably. From a security point of view it was a stupid idea to let people in from places that was not the door. Narutos looked up.

"Kakashi-sensei!" he croaked, like nothing had changed. Maybe it hadn't.

"Yo," he answered.

Where he sat behind his desk he looked so much like his father that it made him wistful. They had the same spiky blond hair, and eyes as blue as the sky he'd left just outside. Minato had had a golden necklace and Naruto had a blue one. But there was something different in the way they moved. His father had, ever since a young age, been called a prodigy while Naruto could, at best, be called an eyesore in the view of the public. The change in upbringing had definitely made its mark upon something that otherwise would have been perfectly alike.

In some regards, Naruto was more like Sarutobi; asked instead of demanded. Kakashis sensei had been a brilliant Hokage, clever and patient, but because of his inherent abilities and carefully honed skills, everyone always seemed to let him down a bit. He couldn't understand why people didn't just do the things he did, because _not being able to _was a concept unknown to him.

Narutos stomach growled, and a sigh followed.

Kakashi looked at him. He practically poured himself across the desk in his attempt to look like a puppy, which Kakashi was saddened to admit that he did not. Instead he looked more like a pouting, bothered and begging version of Naruto. Not that that wasn't an interesting image, but probably not the one he'd been going for.

"Kakashi-sensei..." he whined.

"What?"

Naruto groaned, put his head on the desk. "Can you..."

He tried not to smile and wondered what favor he would ask for. "Yes?"

_"Please bring me food."_

Kakashi snorted. "Why don't you just go and buy some yourself?"

Naruto eyed the door and then the corner. "Do you really think I could sneak out even if I wanted to?"

Kakashi thought about his guards, the ever-present ANBU, all the procedures that had to be watched and monitored and reported on. He wondered for a second if he'd traded this life for his freedom. A bleak thought. But it could be worse. At least he knew the people around him, and he could hardly have asked for a better advisor than Shikamaru. He was glad for Narutos sake, that he had such reliable people close to him, but it did make Kakashi feel a little... superfluous. He was not needed.

He sighed, put his hands in his pockets. "Alright."

"Thank you!"

When he came back fifteen minutes later Naruto practically bounced in his chair.

"Here you go," he said and put the bag on the table.

The blond whipped it opened, frowned, looked up at him. "What's this?"

Kakashi smiled. "Sushi."

Naruto kept staring at him, blinked disbelievingly, wondered if this was some evil joke his sensei had decided to play on him. "But..."

"It's good for you."

"I said _food_, sensei. Food means ramen."

Kakashi arched his eyebrow.

He yielded, knowing he was in the wrong. "I guess it'll do..." he said and grabbed one of the boxes.

Kakashi felt stupid, having given in to the temptation of buying a box for himself. No point denying it, when he'd been at the shop he'd wanted to eat lunch with him, and thus bought two. There wasn't even anywhere to sit except the couch by the wall, in other words pretty far away. _Stupid, stupid, stupid. _

"I guess you can always sit on the desk." Naruto said helpfully, having reached the same conclusion.

Kakashi snorted. And there it was again, a leer in Narutos smile and an unruly glimmer in his eyes, and he knew that whatever came next would be mischievous.

"You're allowed to, I promise."

With a sigh he did as he'd been told but compromised, and sat down very lightly, perhaps leaning more than sitting, with his back against the ANBU guard. He balanced his tray on his right leg, without it wobbling.

"Do you want my unagi?" He'd never been too fond of eel, of its earthy flavor.

Naruto nodded, "Sure, what do you want instead?"

He eyed his plate and then saw the two pink pieces he'd pushed away. "Salmon?" They traded, both pleased.

He started to spend a little more time in his office. After all, a good body guard knows his clients every habit, right?

He was just doing his job...

* * *

**Naruto**

He'd slowly come to terms with the job, on waking up every day and still being the Hokage. That it wasn't just some dream. Things cleared up, people returned to their normal ways after being on their best behavior for too long, and that was not always a pleasant experience. He was glad that Tsunade had agreed to work as his advisor for as long as needed but, as she never failed to remind him, she could think of more interesting things to do.

The paperwork was an outright hassle. A very disciplined man (or woman) would probably have it under control. He'd never claimed to be perfect, and despite that he did finish most of it, a lot of the time, it inevitably piled up again as soon as he wasn't looking. What he liked best was assigning personnel to the high-ranking missions, with Shikamarus help. And whenever Kakashi dropped by, seemingly without another cause than to check up on him.

He sort of suspected that he had some ulterior motive because he'd never been one to simply hang around. He couldn't understand why he'd suddenly become so interested and yet there he was, lying on the uncomfortable sofa, reading his Icha Icha without a care in the world. He was even too tall for the thing and so his long legs always stuck out a bit. After some hard thinking, which rendered him nothing, he concluded that his sensei was a strange man and left it at that.

They did some training too, the few days when he wasn't dead tired after work. It felt nice, in some ways, to have something to return to, to have someone who didn't ask for bigger funding or pushing for unions with other countries or looked at him like he'd grown an extra head. Either he didn't care or he simply took great care not to show it. Whatever the reason, he was grateful. Even some of his friends had put some distance between them, not because of anything malicious but simply because they were unsure of how to deal with the new development, that he was all of their boss, to some extent or another.

After a particularly trying, rainy day he was with Kakashi on the training ground. He was mad, insanely frustrated and had a ferocious amount of energy waiting to be spilled and spent and absolved. He lashed out, hoping that Kakashi would dodge and sort of- kind of wondered if it had been okay to use that much force and then he found himself on the ground. Kakashi stood behind, having sensed his hesitation and pushed him, used his stern voice,

"Never fight half-heartedly, Naruto."

He rushed up, mad at Kakashi for catching him unaware, but mostly at himself for letting it happen. They both became serious after that, going as far out as they could without actually demolishing the landscape, burning all their energy on pointed, lethal attacks. He got increasingly pissed because Kakashi always seemed to see his attacks before they happened and he realized he was up against the Sharingan, and his teacher was a formidable fighter and that pissed him off even more. He wanted to pound someone into the dust and he'd be damned if a stupid eye would stop that from happening. He took off again, even more determined.

Half an hour later the rain was pouring down, and despite his sincere intentions of outwitting the other man he grudgingly had to accept that this was neither the time nor the place.

"Truce?" he asked Kakashi, that stood under a tree to escape the worst of the downpour.

"I should be the one asking that. You angry today?"

Naruto looked down, ashamed for practically taking his anger out on him. "I'm sorry," he said, without knowing what he was sorry for just that he was. "The council gets a hundred times worse when there's a new kage, and the land of Earth elected a new kage yesterday. They all seem to think that we should implement everything _they _have implemented, and they don't care if it's too expensive or inappropriate or downright impossible." He realized he was moping and forced himself to get his shit together, fake a smile. "But it comes with the job, I guess. Let's go back."

The rain made the gray sky even darker, made the cold even stronger and made his shoulders even heavier. _What the hell am I doing? _He wasn't used to feeling this defeated. He needed a distraction to get his mind off of things, and he searched the streets for something of that kind. Most of the shops were closed, in this kind of rain the reasonable people stayed indoors.

They were still in the outskirts of town, and through the deafening rain he could see a familiar building. It was the town's bath house. It would be kind of nice to get off the streets. He was soaking wet, his clothes were sticking to him in an uncanny way. After some gesticulating he got his point across and they went inside, discreetly trying not to drip too much on the floor.

As soon as he was in the hot water he realized how cold he'd been, and that along with his wild spar in the forest made him never want to leave. When Kakashi approached he leaned back against the wall, looking away, didn't want him to think that he was ogling. Because there was a lot. To look at. _No fair, _he muttered to himself. He looked so good and yet he didn't seem to care. It wasn't until he'd sat down farther away that Naruto dared glancing in his direction. They never seemed to talk a lot and he wondered why that was. Maybe Kakashi didn't like talking to him. He sighed, decided not to think about it more.

He sloshed a little water in Kakashis direction. No response. He knew he was being childish but if he was forced to be cool and correct for another second he just might die. He splashed some more, made a wave that washed up on his arm, a pale one with an ANBU tattoo.

_Wow, he had a tattoo..._

He felt a pair of questioning eyes upon him, wordlessly asking him what he was doing. He looked back, pushed some more water his way and he could practically feel the tide rising in the other man. He had the same sensation as when he'd been playing with stray cats when he was younger, one wrong move and he'd get a pair of razor sharp teeth in his hand but he did it anyway, couldn't wait to find out who was the faster one. It was the same urge that drove him to climb atop the Hokage monument in windy weather, or trying to talk to Kiba when he was building a house of cards, just to see if he _could_, if it would end in misery or not. It was a strangle feeling of elation, a rush. Kakashi was growing frustrated, not yet ready to return the favor because _someone _had to be the responsible one, even if the Hokage had clocked out. Naruto could see that he was irked, the two mismatched eyes looking roguish, the rest of his face hidden by a white mask, kind of like the one the doctors wore.

Why did he wear a mask when there was no one there but them?

Stupid sensei, he thought, as was met with a splash. _Oh, you've done it now. _He retaliated.

A dry quiet cough was heard, probably Kakashi but when he looked up he saw him looking back, but if it wasn't him then who...

A no-nonsense man in his forties stared at them, a couple of metres away.

"It's nine pm." They both looked back at him. "We're closing," he explained.

They got up and got dressed, and by then the rain had ended.

"I'll see you tomorrow then," Kakashi said.

He didn't follow. "How so?"

"First day back at work," he clarified.

"Aha." He realized he'd be the one sending him on missions now. Scary. "See you."

The next morning both Tsunade and Kakashi was there. Maybe he had something to do with why Tsunade was there. She smiled.

"You look well."

He smiled back. "Yeah, everybody's been really good to me."

They hadn't seen each other for a while, she carefully moved away from him, she was sick of politics, longed for the opportunity to go wherever she pleased, maybe a place where the earth met the sky and those that were lost seemed a little closer than before. But before she could do that she needed to make sure that her once little gaki wasn't left to his own means.

"As you know Uma was only a temporary solution, he normally works in another branch, but he's one of the best and we were fortunate enough to get to borrow him. But there's someone at least as skillful as him, someone you know very well," her voice trailed off.

He looked expectantly at her. And where was this person?

She smiled again, nodded at the person standing next to her. Kakashi.

_No..._"I don't, uh-"

Kakashi stepped forward, tried explaining. "It's a good idea. I've been spending time with you so I can better discern threats and-"

It felt like a slap in the face. He'd suspected there was some reason behind his sudden visits, but to have it thrown in his face like this... _It's not like I did it because I felt like it... _He looked up, trying to stay in the present when all he wanted was to go home and lie down, preferably forever. But he didn't, he listened to Kakashis beckoning voice. "-from a security point of view, we'd have a clear advantage compared to someone who doesn't know you so well."

He didn't care about advantages, about who knew him the best, about strategies or stuff like that. All he knew was that he didn't want Kakash throwing himself in from of a knife for his sake, he shuddered at the thought. He refused to let it happen, to be the catalyst for that to happen, because it surely would. Because he was the hokage, and eventually someone would come along to try and take his life, and then Kakashi would _die. _

"I won't allow it," he said, probably looking agitated and he tried to calm down, to be reasonable about this. He looked at Tsunade. "Get me someone else. Anyone."

He refused to look in Kakashis direction.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Reviews are always, always, _always _appreciated!

* * *

**Kakashi **

When he searched for Narutos gaze it strayed, refusing to meet his for even a second. Why did he think it was such a bad idea? Personally, he'd come to terms with it. As Tsunade had explained, hopefully no one would try anything as it would definitely lead to a declaration of war, which no one wanted. Hell, he might even be a bit over-qualified for the job, but he'd never thought that Naruto would flat out refuse it.

Didn't he want him there? He'd never seemed bothered by his presence, and Kakashi prided himself on being quick on the uptake on those kinds of things. Well, then this just proved that he could completely wrong too sometimes. He could ponder over his hurt ego later, now they had to somehow work this out. _Get me someone else. Anyone. _That certainly cleared things up. It was a no, on him as a person, as company and as a worker. Every delusion that he'd had that Naruto liked him came crumbling down loud enough for his ears to hurt.

Beside him Tsunade sighed, yanking him back to the present.

What do you want?

Who do you want?

"Kakashi, could you leave us for a second?" she said and he nodded, went to stand outside. The Hokages office was soundproof, he didn't hear a thing. Maybe Tsunade would succeed in getting a reasonable explanation, something he could make sense out of. It only took a couple of minutes until she stepped out, looking both confused and resigned.

"He won't tell me why. I don't get it, but there's not much we can do. He didn't have anyone else in mind either."

Kakashi sighed and put a hand on his hip, thinking intently. "Talk to Owl. I know Naruto likes him." Maybe the ANBU would like a change of pace. In all cases, it was better to have someone he trusted.

"Can you talk to Owl?" Tsunade asked. She wasn't pleased at all by the change of plans.

Kakashi threw his hands up in a rare case of indignation. "I'm not getting involved." He knew he was being childish, but Naruto had made it idiotically clear that he was not wanted. And he wouldn't lower himself by doing his bidding anyway, however indirect it might be. _Not my job. _

The former Hokage glared at him, crossed her arms, it was a quiet argument. He didn't say anything, to see if she would push it. They both knew he had to do it if she asked. He stood his verbal ground. She was the one to back off with a shrug of her shoulders. "I'll get someone else to do it."

When he got back home he realized he had yet another problem. The fall out during the meeting had effectively rendered him without a job. He didn't feel like going back and ask for a mission instead.

He stayed put, made miso soup and held the pot hard enough to make his knuckles look white.

A couple of boring, uneventful days later he was once again called back to the Hokages office. He was supposed to be there at eight, but things happened (when had his bookcase become this messy? The titles weren't orderly _at all._) and the clock was a little past eleven when he folded himself in through the open window.

The past days rain had taken a bite out of the summer weather, and the air was damp and brisk, bordering on chilly. The sensation only got stronger when he laid eyes on Naruto, who didn't say anything about his late arrival. A scroll was pointedly placed in front of him on the desk, for Kakashi to go get himself since the Hokage wouldn't bother giving it to him. Naruto was busy writing a long and important looking letter, the chafing sound of pen on paper became clear in the frosty room, not having to hide under a bantering conversation.

"What's this about?" he asked, meaning the peculiar turn things had taken.

"An important mission," Naruto replied, perhaps misinterpreting his question on purpose. "A shrine on the border of our land and Land of Rivers was opened and we need to salvage whatever was in it. According to history there are important documents on the Senju clan. Konoha can't afford to fall behind on this."

It was both amusing and dreadful to hear his former student spewing the same crap he'd gotten delivered so many times through the years. "You have been assigned to a team which leaves at twelve."

"How..." _How do you like ordering me around? How did you learn to talk in such roundabout ways? How come there's a chair in your office when no one dares to sit down in front of you?_

"That's all."

Kakashi nodded, complying, fighting to rearrange his footing on the unruly ground between them. His exit through the window was a statement. It took a couple of seconds and then it was forcibly shut behind him.

He quickly went through the information in the scroll, his steps absentminded through the streets. It seemed this could get violent very fast. Konoha was far from the only village that had noticed the downfall in security in that particular region. The rest of his team was ANBU. It seemed Naruto had been made aware of his lingering ties to the service. That would simplify things. ANBU forces were, as a rule, easier to work with, though it would be a snowy day in hell before he said that out loud.

Once at home he hurried up, tossing the most important things down in a backpack, not fully able to ignore the slight surge of adrenaline that he got from this kind of mission. Everything hung in the air like dry rain. He only had a couple of minutes left and emptied out a glass of lukewarm water in Mr Ukki's bowl, ordering it not to die when he was gone. He went to the bathroom and then got out his ANBU gear from the bottom of his closet where it had been for quite a while. Luckily everything still fit, he noted, and strapped the chest guard tighter. Lastly he put his mask in place, and it was like taking the first breath in a dark room. Then he left.

The ANBU never started their missions by the gates like the other shinobi, but instead by a little outpost in the forest, not far from the main building. As he approached he could see that the others had gathered and were waiting for him. He didn't let it get to him though, leisurely sauntered towards them, radiating easiness. If _he _showed up looking stressed, there was no telling what it would do to the morale.

"Still can't tell the time, I see," a toned guy stated, crossing his arms and making the muscles budge.

Hound.

"Hm?" he answered, as if he'd barely noticed he was there. "I wasn't aware that this was a rush job."

There was a little stream of mutterings as the other three told him exactly what they thought of his time table.

"Glad to see you too," he sighed.

The shrine was some hours away, and after the first casual round of comments they quickly got down to business. "There are four other groups that we know that are on the way. The closest is eight hours away, which just means we have to be there in seven." An insane pace. But then again, Hound never shied away from driving his subordinates to great lengths. His subordinates... and Kakashi, who was just lucky in that regard. He hadn't said anything during the initial planning that Hound laid out, found nothing that he disagreed with. He would have done it the exact same way.

"What say you, Hatake? Will you have any problems keeping up?"

Young people these days... "I think I'll be fine."

Despite that he officially was the one in charge he let Hound run the show, knew that if it came down to it, it was Kakashi that made the final call.

Just as decided they reached the shrine in a little over seven hours. At first it seemed they had made it in time, the thick canopy around the little house didn't show any signs of having been disturbed. Hound and one other ANBU made a quick sweep of the surroundings, coming up with one chakra signature. They closed in without hesitating, it flickered right beside the building. A thin guy in his twenties, apparently keeping watch, stood under the roof, smoking a cigarette.

"He's probably waiting for his team to come back and get the rest," Hound concluded and shot Kakashi a dirty glance, as if it was his fault that they had not made it in time. Not much to do but to get the guy to talk. The other two went to see if there was anything left, leaving Hound and him to overpower the guy.

A lewd whistle had him looking in the opposite direction, leaving his back wide open, letting Kakashi take him out within the second. This kind of guy almost did his job for him, he thought, and grabbed a hold of the mans shoulders, waiting for Hound to carry the other end. They took him to a little clearing, far enough so that they wouldn't be heard. By then the guy had woken up and was making demands only to whimper in the next second. His hands and feet were tied but he was able to put himself upright, with his back against a tree.

"You're not getting anything out of me!" he declared proudly, but his eyes betrayed his words, they were wide and tense.

"Who said I wanted anything with you?" Hound said, tilted his head in a way that was eerie reminiscent of the animal he was named after. He truly looked like a dog then, having cocked his head to the side, sampling the air, cutting whatever was in his field of vision into molecules and strands of hair. He chuckled. "_I _don't want anything to do with you."

Kakashi almost rolled his eyes. The muscular man never tired of his scenes, and he almost suspected that he got off on it, devouring their fear and uncertainty with a zest that was graphic all in itself. "Though I know someone who is very keen on talking to you."

The man on the ground shrunk a little, becoming smaller by the minute. From where Kakashi stood, behind a particularly dense cluster of thin trees, he could see Hound's back and the guy that was lying straight ahead of him.

"I think you've heard of him."

"Y-yeah?"

"Oh, yes. _The man of a thousand jutsus._" Oh come _on. _He could hear the other guy swallowing, gulping down what surely was meant to come out as a wail.

"To tell you the truth, I never want him to come along on missions. He makes such a mess. One time I had to fish pieces out of my hair-"

Kakashi entered then, figuring that the guy would just end up barfing. "Here he is now! I'll leave you to it, boss."

Hound left them, Kakashi peered down at their captive, a few moments away from crying. He crouched down, making the man struggle backwards, trying to ease his way into the tree and beyond. It had been a while since anyone had looked at him like that, with a detest for his abilities, for his apparent disrespect of life. And now he was out to get him too.

"What's your name?" he asked, sitting lightly on the paws of his feet, sandals barely sinking down in the short, musky grass.

"R-Rei."

Kakashi made an encouraging sound. "Rei, huh. What village are you from then?"

The man on the ground opened his mouth a little but no sound escaped.

"Listen, Rei..." he said kindly, "Now is not the time to be noble. Either you tell me what I want to know, or things won't get very pleasant."

"Tanigakure" he whispered, but he wanted to make sure he got it right. "Hm?"

"_Tanigakure._"

"I see. And how many are on your team?"

The other man looked down, tears aligning on his eyelashes, as if marching in their last parade. "Three, including me. They left me behind to guard the rest-" and then he actually sobbed.

"Thank you, you've been very helpful."

He got up, conversed with Hound further away.

"Tanigakure. We wait here until they get back and then follow them back to where they keep the rest."

"Or we could do a little more aggressive intelligence gathering. Push him a little."

His colleague was hot-headed, but he had a point. The guy could at least tell them where they had taken the documents.

He went back, this time remaining standing. "So...about these documents. Where were they taken?"

"I-I don't know."

He raised his eyebrows. "You don't know?"

He took out a little knife from his pouch, went over his nails, cleaning out some dirt from underneath them. "Now that's a pity." He felt the man's eyes follow his every move, dreading to find out just what he'd do with that knife. He took the blade, placed it along his thumb and drew a line downwards, making blood rush ooze out in a disheartening little river. He ignored the disgust and sighed. "These knives aren't sharp at all, it got all ragged... Look." He held out his thumb for inspection. The other man glanced at it, turned green. He needed blood for his summons anyway, but the guy need not know that. Kakashi stood still, leaning over the man, letting his blood drip on his clothes, a testament for pain to come. "I'm waiting."

"It's not that far from here, you head north west, and you go on for a couple of hours, across three rivers, and then you're there. There's a path, just behind the shrine, people travel here every now and then, we used it to get here." He barely stopped to catch his breath. Kakashi was pleased, left him again, ignored the knowledge of what his captivity inevitably would end with.

He met the other ANBU for a quick briefing on what he'd found out.

"Change of plans, we pursue them instead. I believe this information is correct. We should act on it." The two of them nodded, "Where's Hound-" and then he heard the noise, that one siren song of imminent death, a life going down the drain. He wanted to run over there but stood still since he knew what he'd find, had made that noise happen with his own two hands enough times to hear it over the chirping of the birds and rustling of the leaves.

When Hound reappeared from between the trees he tried not to breathe, was afraid to be hit with the grueling smell of coppery blood. Granted, it was a gray area, and no one would blame him for doing it, but he still thought that Hound was in the wrong. He couldn't argue, not here, not since it would jeopardize the mission. The mission always came first. In their little world the objective was god, what they all wound their lives around in order to appease. He'd known that they couldn't let him go, not when he could always end up stabbing them in the back, quite literally. But not in this case, he'd had something in his eyes, a quiet agreement to never go near this kind of danger again. The man, _Rei, he reminded himself. Rei wouldn't have gone after them._ He shook his head, bent down under the regulations, said nothing. They found the path and followed it, having grown quiet from the long day and irredeemable actions under the sun. They had been by the shrine for maybe an hour, and his body had gotten some rest, it was tired but it worked, and he rushed on, just as everyone else ignoring the fatigue.

* * *

**Naruto**

The next day he left the window just a little bit open, as if he wanted some air. It had been a rush decision, to send him on that job, but he didn't have the time to say anything else. Not that he would have known what to say anyway, and he was still thinking about it when there was a little noise by the window and he could feel the white energy, almost stamped out, vacant.

When Kakashi quietly swung his legs inside he saw that they were dark red. They should have been black, because his pants were black, but now they weren't, they were blood on black-colored and he knew that whatever flimsy speech he'd thought of wasn't what he wanted to hear. Kakashi dropped a dark, sticky scroll on his desk, as an exclamation mark before him, demanding responsibility for his actions.

"We got the documents. All of them. This is the most important, the rest is down at the lab," he said.

Naruto looked up, and up a bit more, he was little behind the desk and he was little under his gaze. "What happened?" he asked, because he was bloody, and his eyes were sad.

The other man looked down, away, "There was trouble."

He knew that no one in the team had gotten hurt, that had the highest priority, but if it wasn't his people that were hurt, that only meant that someone else was. And he didn't want to ask him because he knew what he would say. Kakashi did his job, and people died.

_Who's the most guilty? You or me?_

The man that had done the killing or the man that had ordered him to?

"You'll get the report later today," he said, now that he had said it he waited to be released from his office and his grip.

"Good," he replied, attached his gaze to him as he left through the door, watched as he shut it behind him.

He'd looked tired and disappointed, as if life wasn't what it was made out to be, as if he just wanted to breathe some air that wasn't polluted by the putrid stench of having made decisions for a cause. Sometimes he looked like that.

He remembered one of their missions, when Kakashi had interrogated a soldier out on the battlefield. Back then Naruto had been horrified, seeing his teacher, his _sensei_, behaving like he'd expect Ibiki to behave.

Heartless.

And that didn't make sense. His teacher could be stubborn, lazy, weird and even serious sometimes. But never cold. Never uncaring. It was like when he took a wrong turn on his way home and suddenly found himself in the dark, his eyes faltered because he thought it was the right way and then, just like that, it wasn't. He was forced to witness how he changed, stripping off all his humanity, his compassion, and turn to something unfeeling, vile. There was something under that calm, serene surface, and that scared him a little.

He'd stood still in the clearing, watching him with an ice cold lump in his stomach.

The next thing he knew he was simply inherently sad, because Kakashi looked so sad.

* * *

**Kakashi**

When he came home he didn't bother undressing before getting in the shower, he was weary to the bone and it wasn't like water was the worst that could happen to his clothes.

They had hurried all the way to the shrine, only taking minimal breaks, then they'd gone on to the village, quickly drawn up a plan and staged an assault which rendered casualties in no time at all. Then of course they had to get back, carrying the scrolls and making sure they weren't followed. He'd almost forgotten how straining the ANBU missions could be.

The water went from pinkish to clear, as if both him and his clothes were being wrung out, diluted for the sake of order. He started pulling off the garments one by one, rinsing them off. Eventually he sat down, letting the steaming hot water take some tension with it down the drain. The shower was one of the few places he had peace of mind enough to finish his thoughts properly. He pushed his chest plate away with his foot, swept some wet strands of hair out of his eyes, sighed. The water drummed down on the glass walls and floor tiles, reminding him of times spent in the jungle, hiding beneath a corrugated steel roof to escape the water masses.

Naruto had been calmer than he'd thought about the whole ordeal...

With a quiet groan he got up and turned the water off, hung his equipment up to dry and then dried himself off before finally allowing himself to fall into bed.

He slept for five hours, woke up at two pm. He got dressed slowly, picked up clothes from here and there. He sat down and wrote the report at home, and then went to deliver it.

He never got used to seeing him like this, the pure order in which his life had been rearranged into. Naruto looked up, only briefly, wasn't glad to see him, a grim expression wrecking havoc with his lips, and Kakashi felt like leaving, like dying, like absolving into the molecules of the air and leave him, since he was so obviously bothered by his presence.

He reminded himself of the fact that he indeed had a job to do. "Here's the report, Hokage-sama." The honorific had slipped out before he'd gotten a chance to stop his lips from saying it.

He saw lines appearing on his cheek as Naruto bit down what was surely a harsh remark. "Don't call me that," he said sharply.

"What do you want me to call you then?"

_What could I possibly call you? _

"I-... never mind."

Kakashi gave him the light scroll, his evaluation. He knew it was time for him to leave but didn't, remained where he was.

"Have I done something to you?" he asked softly, despite knowing that it was Owl in the corner he didn't especially want to include him in their conversation, was reluctant enough to laying his heart bare like he was, even without an audience.

Naruto was quiet, stared at him, an array of emotions on display, something beneath his purposefully neutral surface. "No, of course not."

He was _lying_, he was lying Kakashi right in the face, refusing to tell him.

He wasn't one to push on, but he did so anyway, didn't want to see Naruto looking at him like that, so far away from his usual sunny way. "Is it about the body guard thing? If it makes any difference, I gladly would have done it. They didn't force me, so if this is some reverted plot to get me off the hook or something you can stop now, because that's not what happened."

"It doesn't matter if you offered or not," Naruto muttered and for a second he wondered if he'd actually said anything at all or if it was just his brain that had taken a turn for the worse and had now begun making stuff up.

"What did you-, why doesn't it matter?"

Naruto looked down on his desk, and looked mad, he looked mad but tried to hold it back because he knew he shouldn't be. "I don't want you as my body guard. Just no."

Kakashi was getting a little angry too. He was still tired, his judgment impaired, but he didn't care. "If you don't think I'm good enough, just say so, I'm not gonna cry. You should have been honest from the start and said so." He personally thought he was more than qualified for the job, but if Naruto didn't want him there he would never disrespect his wishes by accepting the job anyway. If he wanted him to stay away he would gladly stay away.

The blond looked up from his desk, now even angrier, he stood up, "Dammit, don't go thinking that I think you're not good enough, I know you are, the best even, but I can't-"

Naruto was at a loss for words, Kakashi as well. If this wasn't about his abilities, then what could it possibly be about?

"I'm not gonna ask you do die for me."

_What?_

"But..."

_But I'm not going to die. _

"If I go into a trap and suddenly there's something coming at me, then you would throw yourself in front of it, even if there was another way."

"Of course, that's what a bodyguard is meant to do-"

"I know it is!" he said, exasperated, "How am I supposed to go on living, knowing that you died for me? Huh?!" His voice cracked, swaying. "Don't you think I've had enough of that? Of people leaving me?"

Was he crying? He took a step forward, wanting to comfort but Naruto sat down again, tiredly rubbing his forehead with the palm of his hand, and Kakashi was breaking. The Hokage collected himself and put the scroll away in a box, to read later.

Kakashi just stood there, his hands were heavy, what could he say? "I..."

Narutos eyes were unanimous, not seeing.

"That's all."

_Dismissed. _


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Sorry it took a while. Last year of school. You get it.

Leave a review and make a procrastinating student happy!

* * *

**Kakashi**

What did he mean by all that? His head was empty, the thoughts winding in between the white chalky walls he'd built around his name. It was known that Naruto was protective of those he held dear, and Kakashi assumed he was one of them. A lot of people met those somewhat fuzzy criteria, of belonging to whatever entity Naruto defined as "close". He should be grateful, he assumed, and went back home.

He went inside barely knowing what he was doing, grabbed the green book from the kitchen table and sank down in the sofa. The book was open, his eyes not seeing lines or words, only a friendly face, distraught. A face with whisker-scars, contorted by thoughts and wrinkled by the silent, breathing mouth that disregarded words in favor of simple air. Whenever Naruto looked at him it was if he conveniently passed and forgot what he'd been thinking about before, if he'd been thinking at all.

He went on missions, short stories that all worked out, somehow without hassle. There was spells like these sometimes, when everything seemed to fall into place, which only meant a truly gruesome mission was making its way to the Hokages desk. Before long he'd be knees deep in a swamp somewhere.

He met Naruto now and then, accepting missions and leaving scrolls and looking daftly at him, seeing how he grew up in front of him, how strain settled on his shoulders and his resolve hardened. He didn't bring their argument up and neither did Naruto. He left it, like a rock in the sand he let it be. It seemed like the blond had moved past whatever had been bothering him, greeted him with his usual sunny smile, only a little guarded. He often had people around him, but Kakashi didn't know if he was seeing anyone. He hadn't heard anything, and he suspected that the rumors would start spreading as soon as something like that happened. He tried not to let the thought get to him too much, because it ached a little every time he thought of it. He knew he had no claims, that his hands were empty, that as soon as someone came along he would let go and back off, but it until that happened, until there was someone that he went to meet, he would keep seeing him.

Soon the leaves on the trees became tinged with a different color, as if someone was affecting them from afar, maybe the cold had snuck up on them while they were sleeping. Yet you couldn't tell that the sun had tired as it kept granting them warmth but he knew that the shift would occur soon. The world smelled differently outside, as if someone had opened a window on a windy day.

The evenings grew colder, a little darker, and on one of these nights he found himself face to face with Naruto, walking out from the main building. His body was like a piece of driftwood finally reaching the shore, tired but content. They looked at each other, said hello, peered at each other from the distant brinks of their bodies.

"Ramen?" Kakashi suggested, the hokage nodded eagerly. "Yeah, sure."

They sat down by their usual table, neither one speaking yet, the opportunity to eat was good enough, and they took their time. It felt as if the axis of the world had shifted along with the tempered earth. Kakashis fingers were cold from being exposed to the ungrateful evening air, and he cradled the bowl fondly, letting the heat awake the nerves. It tingled and stung but he embraced it.

"So..." Kakashi asked eventually, with half of the noodles still in the broth. "How is it, being the hokage?"

Naruto smiled, didn't let go of his bowl but put it down, he too warming his fingers, thinking. "I don't know. It's fun, and and sometimes scary. But mostly I just do paperwork and attend meetings." He sounded wistful at the fact, as if it wasn't what he'd expected. Then again, there wasn't exactly a guide you could follow, no description of work that you could read. You had to see it for yourself. "It's a new situation, all the big countries being at peace with each other. We do have Kusagakure but they're too small to be a threat. And the rest seems to keep up their end of the bargain too. Now we just gotta make sure it lasts. The peace," he clarified, letting his voice trail off.

Kakashi nodded.

"Sometimes I miss being a little carefree", Naruto admitted, after looking around and seeing no one. The restaurant was pretty empty, no one sitting by them in the far back, which Kakashi had taken advantage of to not having to wear his mask.

He watched as Naruto bent his head, making the highlights shift and fret in his unruly head of hair. "I miss...I miss having smaller, simpler missions. Like when we were in Iwagakure."

"How do you mean?" Kakashi asked.

"It was nice to be on a mission like that," Naruto said, and his expression was unreadable, his strong fingers twirling around the chopsticks, making ripples on the dim light brown surface of the food.

_I miss it too_, Kakashi thought, that little piece of time and space, cut out just for them. But he couldn't say that. "It _was _nice," he agreed, not knowing where Naruto was going with this. He looked into his eyes.

Something told him that the blond didn't know either, because he didn't continue, just watched him for a bit, they peered at each other. Kakashi realized his food had gone cold and he gave up on it, pushed it forth. When he looked up the hokage turned his head away.

"Are you done?" Kakashi asked, not being able to take the silence.

The profane blue eyes blinked. "Huh?"

"With your food, I mean."

Naruto looked down on his bowl, saw the dreary constellation of cold noodles and tired salty broth. "Yeah, I'm done."

They paid for themselves, Teuchi gave them a big smile on the way out. It was dark out on the street, an ordinary Friday and most people had gone home and gone to sleep. They set off in the direction of Narutos apartment, slowly walking through the cold, discussing implementations to the scholarly regiment.

"...It costs a lot, but I think it will be worth it in the end-" Naruto said and then Kakashi grabbed him by the arm, pulled him in his direction and then let go. "What was that for?" he asked breathlessly and Kakashi nodded at a big puddle of water in the middle of the street.

"Maa, Naruto, watch where you walk."

He argued. "I _was_ watching!"

"Oh look, we're here." Kakashi interrupted him and stopped by the stairs. Naruto glanced at the first step and then turned to him again. He looked a little insecure.

"I need your help with something," he blurted out.

"Sure," Kakashi agreed readily, eyeing him. "With what?"

Naruto took a deep breath, a sigh of relief, scratched his head. "There's a bunch of letters with recommendations, both from the regular forces and ANBU. I've been putting it off for a while now, it would be great if you could go through them and see if it's reasonable. To promote them, I mean."

He nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I can do that. When do you want it done?"

"Tomorrow? If you don't have anything else planned, I mean."

"Tomorrow's fine."

Naruto smiled. "I'll see you later then!"

"See you."

* * *

**Naruto**

The next morning, when he glared at the report between his hands, he realized that they hadn't agreed on a time. But he would still show up right? He checked the time. A little past nine. He'd asked Ino to bring up the boxes and she'd put them by the wall, next to the sofa, not wanting to clutter his desk. He cleaned it once a week, but there were so many papers and documents. And he hadn't even started on next month's schedules. His head sank down on the desk and he groaned, allowed himself to wallow in self pity for another moment. Then he got to work.

He was so busy writing that he didn't notice Kakashi approaching, only realized there was someone standing in front of him when he reached for a new paper.

"Yo," he said, the one visible eye closed in a smile.

"Hi!" he said, and then remembered that he should continue with something. "The boxes are over there," and pointed towards the pile of material awaiting him.

"Ah," Kakashi said, and by then his smile had faded somewhat.

It was a relief to see one of the chinks being tended to. He thought it was tricky to determine who deserved a promotion and who wasn't really ready. Half an hour later he was done with the schedule and put it to the left, in the "done" pile. On the other side of the room Kakashi had made progress too. Figuring he should at least try and learn something about the process, he got up and and made his way over there.

He grabbed a pile of folders from the seat and plopped himself down on the sofa, beside him. "So, how do you do this?"

What followed was a long explanation of missions, all with different variables and goals, and captains that were slightly biased even though they weren't meant to be.

"If you look at this guy," Kakashi said and held out a piece of paper for him to read, "you see that he's only finished five missions, all infiltrations. That's too few, you need at least twice that amount with different kinds of missions to even be considered."

"Uh-huh," Naruto said, trying not to think about the fact that his knee was touching Kakashis thigh, and if he moved it now it would seem like he was uncomfortable, but he wasn't.

"And here we've got another example of the same thing. From _ground support. _Go figure."

He tried to look understanding but probably failed since he hadn't the faintest idea of what Kakashi was talking about. He had never seen him truly irritated but now he was. Unjust preferments somehow managed to push all of his buttons at once.

"They think that if they promote them they'll get rid of them-"

Every once in a while his sensei shook his head, Naruto noticed, and at first he thought it was because of his carefully banked out anger, but after a couple of minutes he realized it was his hair getting in his eye.

"...and that's about it," Kakashi said and put the last folder down in the pile to the left. He then turned to him. He did that thing again, shook his head, but this time Narutos fingers was there and brushed them to the side, twirled some almost white strands between his fingers.

"You have to do something about those bangs of yours."

He removed his hand, tried to think of a reason as to why he'd done that, a reason not involving finally succumbing to the desire of seeing if his hair was as steely as it looked. It wasn't. "Or you'll be looking like a rogue."

Kakashi, who had been utterly still until then moved a little in his place. "Is that so?"

"Yeah... Anyway, why is it three piles?"

Kakashi bent, took up the pile in the middle and handed it to him. "These could go either way, either you promote them or you don't. No matter which, I'd have no objection."

"I see." He realized he'd been keeping him. "Thank you," he said warmly. "You've been a big help."

Kakashi shrugged. "I didn't actually do that much."

After Kakashi left he went through the last pile and added three more for promotion.

* * *

**Kakashi **

He came back by afternoon and decided to go for a run. He wasn't sure of how it happened, but an hour later he found himself in a very serious competition of rock paper scissors. Gai proclaimed that if he lost he'd walk 200 laps around the training ground _on his hands. _Hadn't heard that one in a while. Three grueling matches later Gai admitted defeat and got started on his regiment. Kakashi allowed himself a smile as he watched how Gai had to swerve to avoid falling into a puddle of mud. He went home feeling light-hearted.

As he got ready for bed he looked closely at the face in the mirror. He really needed a haircut. When his hair was wet, like it was now, it barely reached his shoulders.

_I'd might as well get it over with. _

After some rummaging around he found a scissor in a kitchen drawer. It was easier to cut when it was wet or at least damp, since it tended to go every which way when it was dry. He combed out a layer and then tied the rest up. With a cautious movement he let the first piece of hair fall to the floor, and then the next one. _Snip._ The dry, continuous sound was the only thing that was heard. He combed it out, the victimized tassels now a decent bit shorter and cut straight. He repeated the process until he was satisfied. It had been quite a while since he'd had a haircut last, almost a year.

One time when he'd been younger he'd gone to the barber and cut it _unbearably _short, making him look incredibly stupid. Or, like Gai so appropriately had put it, "you look like a hedgehog!" After that he'd resigned to cutting it himself. He had gray hair, and he hoped that the fact would somehow take away the attention from any uneven bits. Not that it showed much anyway. He'd stopped fighting his hair a long time ago. There was something in his genes that made his hair look like he'd been standing in a storm for seven hours straight. If he didn't know better he'd say that his hair wanted to look like that. _What the hell, _he'd thought then and he thought now. Then let it look like that.

Two days later it was time for the jounin ceremony. Instead of promoting them instantly, as it was praxis during times of war, the council had now opted to wait until there was a group of people being promoted, and then holding a joint service instead. It was meant to be a joyous, festive moment. His own promotion had been burdensome affair. His new rank had only allowed him to kill more ruthlessly. It seemed the higher up the food chain you got, the less rules there were. Of course, that meant that it was up to him to do the right thing. And when he was promoted to ANBU captain, it was his job to _decide_ the right thing. These people, gathered in the large room, all looked happy. Their lives looked nothing like his, and that was a good thing.

Naruto wasn't there yet, and neither were the other big shots; the lacking of visible authorities made the atmosphere in the room talkative. He stood to the right, nose buried in his book. As far as stop signs went, reading porn in public was a good one and no one bothered him. Of course it also led to people thinking he was a total pervert. He didn't mind it one bit if it meant that they forgot the other names he'd held. Those were far more grim and in contrary to the occasional "pervert!" he'd actually deserved them. "Cold blooded Kakashi"...

The room immediately quieted down and he looked up to find Naruto approaching his designated place in front of the rest. All of the technically still chuunin were quiet, revered the young Hokage that moved through the room with such apparent ease. Kakashi searched the room, to check and see if everyone was where they were supposed to be.

_The future is in your hands, _he thought grimly.

Don't screw it up.

* * *

**Naruto**

He didn't get why his presence was needed. He didn't even do anything besides sitting there, trying to look regal. The superintendent of the armed forces, the incredibly stern Sakata-san. No, Sakumoto-san. Wait... The man in question droned on about responsibilities and Naruto found himself not really paying attention. Instead he looked out across the room. There was Kakashi, by the left wall.

Reading porn. Incredible.

He almost rolled his eyes. Though his sensei had probably participated in a dozen of these events since he was lots older than him. One time he'd asked Iruka just how old his teacher was, and he'd been twenty-six at that time. He remembered Iruka muttering "It'd be nice if he could act his age every now and then." And that must have been, oh...eight years ago? That would make Kakashi thirty-...four?

He didn't _look_ old. As a matter of fact, he'd looked practically the same, all this time. Very soon Naruto would turn twenty-one. It was thirteen years between them. That was a lot. He quickly waved the thought away as it opened a lot of doors he didn't feel like exploring. He figured he should at least try paying attention to the talking man beside him. He opted for a polite look and stared out across the room, not really seeing.

The speech finally ended and gave way to a presentation where they were called up one by one, to come get their certificate and congratulatory words from the Hokage himself. But the whole thing didn't end there, oh no. The damn jounins just had to go and get something to eat. And as Anko (quite threateningly) pointed out, it would be rude not to go. Though things got a lot better when he approached a booth in the izakaya only to find Shikamaru there, looking positively bored.

"Shikamaru!" he said, and his face lit up. "Did they force you here too?"

And then sat down beside him. The brunet sighed and propped his head up on his right hand, elbow resting on the table.

"Something like that. So bothersome."

"Oi," a voice was heard next to him, and a head full of spiky hair peered at him from beside Shikamaru. "Stop whining. Good to see you, Naruto. It's been a while."

Temari! He eagerly smiled back. "Good to see you too! How is everyone?"

"They're fine. Gaara's as busy as ever."

He nodded and smiled. "I know the feeling."

She took in the white coat, though by then he'd put the hat away. "I can see that. Gaara really wanted to come to the ceremony but there was a crisis, you know."

By then they had gotten some more company in the booth by a whole bunch of other jounin that had assisted with the ceremony. Anko was sitting beside Temari in the middle, looking like a spider in her web, which he suspected was the point. Next to her was Kurenai, Gai and Genma.

Anko sighed. "He's late again."

Kurenai said something that made her laugh, but Naruto didn't quite catch it. He was just about to ask who they'd been talking about when he saw Kakashi coming in through the door, approaching them. Of course. He should have realized.

His sensei stopped in front of the table a short while but there was nowhere else to sit but beside Naruto. He sat down very lightly, keeping a respectful distance. Naruto felt a little hurt by his pointed body language. He was staying away, and it shouldn't bother him but it did. Their food was served and discussions came alive around the table. Kakashi was talking to Gai and Genma. Naruto immersed himself in a discussion with Shikamaru and Temari. The most natural thing would be to talk to Kakashi but he didn't want to. He tried to ignore the fuzziness he felt, as if the air in between them was chafing his skin, and he felt warm and uncomfortable. He tried not looking in his direction at all, because he had nothing to say, because there was nothing _to _say.

He felt weird, and it was a relief when he finally could get his hands on something to drink. Everyone else was drinking and he chugged it down without thinking, only to almost spit it out. It was sake. He managed to keep his mouth shut, hoped no one had noticed. He dared a glance in Kakashi's direction only to find him looking back.

"Are you-"

"I'm fine," he cut him off, couldn't bear to be the object of his scorching gaze any longer. No one was paying attention to them.

"Let's have a toast for the new jounins," Anko said, seemingly having forgotten that she'd not even two minutes earlier had harshly dismissed one of the same. "Kanpai!"

He felt a slight gust of wind to his right, meaning that Kakashi had swept his drink. Across the table, Genma grumbled. "Are we ever going to see your stupid face?" he muttered and shot Kakashi a disgruntled look.

Kakashi shrugged, smiled elusively. "Sorry, it's confidential."

"Tch."

Naruto tried to pretend like nothing, like he wasn't smug at all. To hide his smile he had some more to drink.

The evening turned into night and the food was finished. He started to suspect that he'd had more to drink than what was considered smart. The izakaya was filled with the sound of people talking. He regretted wearing his coat because it had become stupidly hot, and he was getting drowsy and the damn booth sofa was incredibly comfortable and he swore not to fall asleep, he'd just close his eyes for a couple of seconds and then he'd feel better.

* * *

**Kakashi**

"Ne, Naruto. Stay on your side of the booth, will ya?"

At the mentioning of his student's name uttered in that disinterested drawl, his focus instantly shifted from one of Kurenai's stories to whatever was happening beside him. The sight that met him made him feel like he was being gutted.

Naruto was sleeping.

He was sleeping, and something within him broke at the prospect. The blond head was angled slightly backwards, resting safely on the curve of the sofa's back support. The outline of his neck steeped haughtily downwards in a maddening display of skin, ending in beneath his collarbones. His hands were relaxed, the right one lying between them on the seat, fingers dreamily curved.

"Ah, youth." Gai said, and Kakashi prepared for some kind of exclamation, so he was caught off guard when Gai continued with "He really lets his guard down, doesn't he?"

Kakashi nodded. "I try to remind him, but he never listens." _He never listens to me._

Naruto had had a lot to drink, and with his fine nose he could smell the intoxication on his skin. But he also knew that the demon filtered drugs from his system so he'd be coherent soon enough. Hopefully. He'd never seen Naruto get properly drunk before or even drinking in the first place. He had no idea of what he'd done during his time away. He'd done lots of things, probably, and his stomach clenched in protest. Stop...thinking like that.

As the night went on the izakaya quieted down and their table was one of the few left. He shook Narutos shoulder to wake him up.

A clouded blue eye looked at him in amazement. "Wha-?"

"You fell asleep."

Naruto was slowly becoming aware of himself again. "Oh no."

Temari and Shikamaru had left first, and now only Anko and Gai remained, both in various states of inebriation. The alcohol made Gai laugh louder than usual and Anko's eyes become glazed over. Kakashi left them to fend for themselves.

As they got moving Naruto sobered up further, and after a couple of minutes in the cool night air, he was almost back to normal. He sighed and sounded wistful at the fact.

"You sure can't hold your liquor," Kakashi offered, to see if he wanted to talk about it. Not that there was a lot to talk about. He'd just ended up sleeping against his shoulder for a while. Nothing exciting. Okay, so maybe Kakashi was just a little bit drunk after all. Though he hadn't had that much he still knew that his world was fuzzy at the edges, as if the material itself had been corroded, unstable. Or maybe it was because of the one walking beside him. Maybe it was him that made everything feel unbearable.

"Nyaah," A completely ungraceful sound was pressed out of Narutos lungs as he yawned and stretched. The hem of his shirt kept sliding up, and up, and then Kakashi walked into a trashcan. It blared as it fell down and he hurried to get it upright.

Naruto laughed. "How plastered are you, sensei?"

He couldn't very well tell him that the only thing that got him drunk was the smell of his sweat tinged skin and the way his pants _clung _to him.

"If we did the bell test now I bet I'd win," Naruto continued. There was something decidedly uninhibited about that smile, Kakashi concluded. "Don't be so sure. I'm an excellent drunk runner."

He got a light bump in his arm then, followed by a "stupid sensei." It was nights like these when he didn't mind being a stupid sensei, oh no, not at all. Way too soon he saw Narutos house.

"Well, I think I'd better go to bed," Naruto said, and Kakashi wasn't even remotely done with that picture when Naruto smiled again. He looked positively carnivorous, bent. "Are you sure you'll be fine?"

Kakashi opened his mouth to tell him that even his stupid sensei had his pride and that it would take at least a bottle of that delicious stuff to get him properly drunk, but he never got the chance to.

The Hokage reached out, and he stopped breathing, became still.

_What are you...?_

With a delicate movement he started edging down his mask.

"And don't lie to me."

With a final, erogenous pull it slipped off his chin, leaving his face bare in the faint glow of the streetlights. The blond had a motive, and despite not knowing what it was, he let him. He sensed that it was becoming a recurring theme_. _

It tickled as Narutos fingers followed the mask down along his throat but he didn't move. He didn't even try to because he knew he couldn't. Naruto let go and looked at him, waiting for an answer.

"Why would I lie to you?" Kakashi asked, inhaling the scent that until then had been filtered by his mask, a daunting wave of _him_. He felt naked and unaware of what his face was doing. All the other times he'd shown him was because he'd been eating or even shaving once, but not like this. And this time it wasn't even his doing.

"Because you always do. But like this, I'll know it."

_Shrewd. _Pretty lowly, but shrewd. Lowly because Naruto had to have some sense of how easily he could disregard Kakashis rules, all those set procedures for dealing with people. Where others met a brick wall, to Naruto there was nothing more than air. Kakashi suddenly got a little mad at himself, for lowering his guard so easily, for letting in the one person he should keep out. If his life was an apartment Naruto had a key. And a thing for redecorating.

"You look worried," the hokage observed.

Kakashi looked back at him blankly for a moment, knew that he could either let the untrue remarks pass or set the record straight. "I'm not worried, I was thinking. And I try to be truthful with you. As far as I can be."

Taken aback by this piece of news, Naruto furrowed his brows, thinking intently. It was quiet around them, people finally going to sleep, acknowledging that the time for actions had passed. Everyone except for them, standing by the staircase leading up to the second floor. Naruto was closest to it, the white coat solemnly squirming in the faint breeze that not even the night had been able to discourage.

He came to some kind of conclusion, nodded and said "I'll try to be too."

And with that he left him and trudged up the stairs.

* * *

**Naruto **

Was he _stupid?_ He had to be some kind of idiot to pull his mask down like that. He wasn't sure of what had done it, just that he'd been so proud of having seen his face, that time at the izakaya when Genma had been complaining, and by some stupid, _stupid_ whim he'd had to see if he was still allowed to or if the spell was broken.

He had work tomorrow and hurried to get to bed. He was just about to fall asleep when he realized what date it was.

The tenth...

He stared up into the ceiling, his body feeling heavy.

Aching for a sleep that wouldn't come.


	7. Chapter 7

**Naruto**

The blaring of the alarm clock cut through his head like a katon no jutsu, turning his brain into ash. Too tired to curse he reached out and managed to shut it off. The silence that unfolded itself was blissful, he sank back down into the bed. He remained still, felt queasy because of the lack of sleep.

Groaning vehemently he rolled out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. He felt a little better when he stepped out, showered and clean but eyes still mostly closed. He had a dry, bordering on burnt omelet for breakfast, too tired to check the temperature correctly. He wolfed it down despite the shady color, thinking that it was better than nothing.

Thankfully no one at work seemed to notice the date, which was just how he wanted it. But it wasn't without a slight pinch of gravelly disappointment that he started on his work without a single distraction in sight.

Ino came in, said good morning and dumped some more paperwork on his desk. "This is the annual budget assessment, the council wants you to read it."

He nodded. "I'll get to it."

She smiled in response, tilted her head, making the silky hair sway. "Great!" She was unusually friendly today. Maybe she knew something was up.

He stared at the open door for a while, his thoughts churning. With a sigh he got to work, started scribbling absentmindedly on an employment roster. The day passed slowly. He focused all his energy on filling out the forms as effectively as possible, leaving no stone unturned. After an hour his hand started aching but he persevered, seeing a possibility to get rid of the paperwork that had been looming over him.

With a low creak the window opened. "Yo."

And there he was, for some reason. He was wearing a backpack. Why was he leaving? He hadn't heard anything about this. "Where are you going?"

Kakashi held out another slim backpack, dropped in on his desk. "_We _are going on a mission."

...What? He realized he was gaping. "Really?" He managed to stutter.

Kakashi looked away. "I mean, you don't have to, it was just a suggestion."

Naruto was surprised, but happy. "No, I want to, but I'm not sure I can leave..."

"I already talked to Ino and she said it would be good for you."

Well then. It would be a relief to get some time off. He got up, put away the paper he'd been writing. He then grabbed the backpack and slung it over his shoulder.

"Where are we going? Wait-" He was halfway through the door when he remembered that there was someone he needed to talk to. Owl had crossed half the distance, about to follow him.

"Well, I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow then."

Politely telling them to back off. _Please, just for one day. Just let me have this day. _

His bodyguard was quiet for a second, deciding. Naruto followed his gaze over to Kakashi, who tried to look innocent, and not at all like he was whisking the Hokage away from his duties and his guards.

Owl made a little sound, perhaps most accurately interpreted as a sigh but not really. "Of course, Hokage-sama," he said, and bowed.

Naruto felt positively giddy, as if he was doing something he shouldn't. But this was _Kakashi_. He wasn't too worried. Within seconds they were outside the green gates.

"To answer your question," Kakashi said, as if they had never been interrupted, "We're going to Tanigakure, to return an artifact. It's not very valuable, but the sentimental value is high."

They passed a babbling brook and Naruto practically skipped over it.

"But why didn't they come get it for themselves?" He wondered.

Not that he minded though, since it meant he could actually _do _something.

"It's a sign of good will," Kakashi said, and looked ahead of them, to a crossroads. They went to the left. The air was clean and high. It had been frosty during the night, the nature at odds with itself, having autumn and winter at the same time. Now it seemed the latter was winning out. There was a bite in the air that hadn't been there before; the leaves on the trees were burning in yellow and red splayed with orange. He felt frivolous, like he had enough energy to run for hours, but for now he was content with walking. And Kakashi was in no rush either, treading steadily over the lifeless leaves on the ground.

How come he'd gotten such an easy mission? He couldn't remember assigning it to him either. That was weird. The only ones handing out missions, beside himself, was the assignment office, but they only handed the low-ranking ones, the D- and C-ranks. This couldn't possibly be more than a C-rank.

"Ne, sensei?" he asked, enjoyed seeing the faint white puff of smoke that his breath left behind in the air.

"Hm?" Kakashi made a quiet sound in response, shoved his hands down his pockets to hide them from the slight cold.

"How come you of all people got this mission?" He didn't want to pry, but something smelled fishy. He should know, he was the Hokage, at the top of the ladder. He _should _have complete insight. It was a little eerie to notice that something had been decided without him knowing, like for a second having the carpet out from underneath him.

"Ah..." Kakashi said, drawing out the vocal and buying himself some time. "I asked for it," he then admitted in a light tone.

He had? That explained why he hadn't heard anything about it. Only question was why. Naruto was curious but didn't want to be throwing questions at him. Instead he changed the subject, talked about a possible trip to another country.

Kakashi peered up at the sky, discerning what was written there. "We should hurry up a bit."

And so they did. Naruto relished at the feel of finally being free, having a purpose, a clear goal.

Suddenly he was struck with a thought. "Do they know I'm coming?"

Kakashi thought for a second before he replied, "Probably not."

He felt insecure for a whole of five seconds before he decided to make something good out of it. "So what's the deal with this box?"

It was a long story and Kakashi finished up just when they reached the village. They proceeded with caution and identified themselves at a guard house. They probably didn't get a lot of visitors, judging by how pale the guard had become.

"J-just keep going straight forward, Hokage-sama, and you'll find the headquarter."

"Thank you!" Naruto answered, gave him his best smile. He had to remind himself of the fact that he was the Hokage now, that he had to maintain at least some sense of seriousness. He wasn't just representing himself, but Konoha too. By then the villagers had become aware of their presence and came out to look at them. He smiled and waved a lot.

When they reached the main building they were met by a pretty woman. She seemed to be around forty, with big, careful eyes and boxy shoulders seen through the thin shirt. "I'm terribly sorry for the poor reception, Uzumaki-san, but we were not expecting you."

It was refreshing to hear someone refer to him with his last name and not just his title. Of course, she had her pride as village leader.

"You must be Hayashi-san," he said and bowed. "I heard about the box and wanted to offer my personal apology for how the matter has been handled."

He presented the box.

She gingerly took it from his hands. "Thank you," she said, and seemed a tiny bit surprised. He wasn't sure that was a good thing. He heard A's words booming in his head. _"A shinobi should not lower his head so easily."_ To make matters worse, he was the Hokage.

He eased away after that, thankful for the shinobi next to him. Kakashi hadn't said anything, kept in the background but still close. It felt nice to have him there, as if his entire being was calming, reassuring.

When they had put the village behind them, Naruto sighed. "Haa," he breathed. "Either I just did something smart or something stupid."

He searched for Kakashis eyes and then almost shied away when he found it. It was glowering, seemed lucid in the abstract, regal autumn light. "You looked very much like Minato just now," he said.

Naruto pursed his lips in response, saw the gleam in Kakashis eye as he blinked. "Do you mean that in a good way?"

"Of course," he said, and then looked away.

Naruto felt as if he was missing something as difficult to grasp as the thought of the white coat making him someone else or that only eating ramen for three days straight made his stomach hurt. It felt like there was something being disassembled, brought apart, that this thing was somehow concerning him. Then he shook his head. He wasn't ready to think anything in particular, didn't want to start believing anything in particular, and he held onto the truth with his firm hands, resolved never to let it go.

After some time they stopped in a clearing beside the road to drink some water. Kakashi was watching the sky again, held the water bottle out without looking. When he reached for it their fingers brushed and Naruto nearly dropped the water bottle but his feet. Kakashi hadn't noticed anything, kept looking up at the sky. He scolded himself. He was acting like an idiot again, which he shouldn't because it was his _sensei_ damn it. Damn it, and he felt like he was drowning but fought the sensation and busied himself by drinking some water. They took their time getting back but still managed to get inside the gates before the the sun set.

As they reached the doors to the main building he stopped. Should he leave a report? Technically, wasn't this Kakashis mission, so that was his job right?

He felt a hand on the small of his back, just for a second.

"Happy birthday," Kakashi said softly, right by his ear, and then he was going through the doors to leave that report.

Naruto remained for a short while, staring at the doors. Then he left as well.

He went home, trying once again to think about nothing in particular. Because that wasn't even anything to think about. Just a friendly pat on the back. He was the one in the wrong, trying to make all kinds of connections.

Some time later there was a knock on the door, he half-heartedly expected his slouching teacher to appear, instead he was greeted with a warmly smiling Iruka.

"Happy birthday!"

And he'd brought gifts as well. Suddenly Naruto felt a little guilty for not giving his former practically-guardian even a spare thought, and he hurriedly invited him in to have some tea, trying to improve his horrible manners.

They talked a little while about his job, and then Iruka's job. It seemed the little devils had figured out a way of smuggling in itching powder, trying to out-ninja each other and sticking it into other people's clothes.

"I swear, they get worse every year," he muttered, absentmindedly staring out from Narutos kitchen table, his brows furrowed.

Naruto served the tea and then sat down opposite him on the rickety chair as Iruka always took the good one. The brown haired man took a sip of the tea and nodded in approval. "So, what did you do today?"

Naruto thought for a second if he should tell him about his little trip with Kakashi. Why shouldn't he? There was nothing odd about it.

"It started out pretty normal, and then I went on a mission with Kakashi-sensei. "

Despite what he might have thought, Iruka didn't look surprised but simply nodded. "I know."

Naruto furrowed his brows, just how many people had known? "You did?"

Iruka smiled. "I still work at the assignment office on weekends, you know."

He had indeed forgotten, didn't feel like surrendering to the fact. "Anyway," he said, getting back to his original question, "we got to Tanigakure and left the scroll, and then we came home again. It was a really easy mission."

Iruka had some more tea. "I can imagine you were a bit overqualified."

Naruto smiled. "It was pretty nice, actually. Doing something easy every once in a while."

The brown haired man looked down on his cup then back at Naruto. "I remember when you were younger and you kept hassling the Sandaime for more difficult missions."

Naruto felt the corners of his mouth arching upwards as he recalled exactly one of those moments.

They ended up making a simple dinner with fish and vegetables. He cooked and Iruka occasionally stirred in a pot. Naruto wolfed the food down since all he'd had to eat was an omelet.

"So..." Iruka said, and had a piece of grilled mackerel. "I heard Kakashi's been hanging around a lot."

"Yeah," Naruto admitted. "What about it?"

He kind of wondered if this was what it felt like to have inquisitive parents.

Iruka shrugged. "I'm just glad you have such a good... friend."

And what the hell did _that_ mean?

"Oi, stop saying such weird things," he said lightly, about to laugh it off but couldn't because by then he was definitely bothered. He hated being poked at like that.

They didn't touch upon the subject further. After Iruka had left he took care of the dishes, slowly cleaning the plates and then drying them off. It was dark when he stepped out again but he'd come prepared with more clothes than usual. He visited the Yamanaka flower shop, promised them that Ino did her job well and got a bouquet for free. He tried to pay for it but they insisted and he graciously accepted it. When he reached the monument the evening had spread out, become something obscene.

He put the flowers in front of the stone, looked at their names, engraved, and then up at the sky.

"I hate it when people tell me happy birthday," he admitted to no one in particular. "But I only heard it twice today. And I think both of them know, and I don't have to put on a charade."

He sighed.

"I wish I could have had a normal birthday. I wish... a lot of things."

He pulled one glove off, reached out and put a hand on the flat, cool surface. He didn't say anything else.

There was no words, but he was sure they understood that.

**Kakashi**

By the way Naruto looked at him he could tell that this mission wouldn't be a holiday.

"I-, uh..." He held the scroll out, quietly begging Kakashi to come and take it from him. He did so, didn't want Naruto to dirty his hands any further. There was no avoiding it, Kakashis name was on the list and the mission slots needed to be filled.

"It's ANBU jurisdiction but they asked for you specifically."

Kakashi opened the scroll, realized just why he'd been so reluctant.

"I'm putting you in charge of the whole thing," the Hokage continued quietly. "Pick a team and let them know. We have two weeks before they make it official and it needs to happen before then. Other than that, there are no limitations."

Kakashi nodded. "I'll see to it."

There was nothing else to say by then so he took his leave. He needed three more people. It was a fine balance between having many eyes on the ground and good coverage, and being so many that it raised suspicions. Four members was pushing it but he didn't want to leave anything unforeseen. He went to the ANBU quarters, asked for Hound. Together they decided on the two others.

"We leave at 5 am and meet up by the cabin before moving out."

Hound grunted in response, not fond of early mornings.

When he got back home he dug up every piece of information he had on the Land of Valleys and spent the evening planning the way over there. It would take at least three days to get there he surmised, which meant that they were down to ten days for the actual job. He packed his bags, took a shower and went to bed around nine, knowing full well how straining the following three days would be.

When the alarm clock rang the next morning he waddled out of bed and shut it off. He had some kind of vegetable mix for breakfast, trying to cram as many ingredients in there as possible. Whatever he left in the fridge was going to spoil, and he hated to throw away food. After he'd finished it he went to take out the trash, then got ready. As a last precaution he gave Mr Ukki some water and left.

He liked early mornings, when the village was still and quiet. It was still home but a peaceful, silent version. It was going to be a nice day, he could tell. The velvet sky bore promises of lighter times. He knew he had time left and so he took his time, enjoying the view.

_Only two weeks, _he thought.

_Two weeks and I'll be home again. _

The others had already assembled by the cabin. He laid the map out, sharing the planned path. It took a couple of minutes and then they were off.

Everyone was disciplined and only stopped when it was necessary. They weren't exactly hurried but still made sure to use the time effectively.

After two days of mostly unadventurous traveling the nature changed and mountains slowly arose from the ground, like chaste quivers of the earth itself. That night they slept in a little clearing, taking turns to keep an eye out. And then, on the third day around lunchtime, they finally reached their destination.

His colleagues weren't all that talkative and that was fine by him. After all, they were ANBU. They set up shop a little ways outside the village, in a secluded empty house. It was easy to spot eventual assailants that way. First up was surveillance. He spent every day laying a puzzle that at first seemed incomprehensible but slowly cleared to reveal a pattern.

A week later he started to feel a bit nauseous because of the many hours of boredom. Jobs like these mostly involved waiting around and taking notes until something drastic happened. He sighed, took another bite out of the ration bar he'd been chewing on. The sad thing tasted kind of like dried grass and dirt, had a consistency reminiscent of a dried sandal and smelled of wet towels. He took another unwilling bite and picked a few leaves from his clothes, let them rush down onto the ground in a cranky spiral.

**Naruto **

His office was oddly empty. He looked out from behind his desk, his head supported by his hand. The day after his birthday his friends had held a proper party as his place. Well, they hadn't so much held it as shown up at his place with food and cake.

It felt great to see them all gathered like that. Shino, Kiba, Tenten, Hinata, and all the rest he saw on a more regular basis. The party ended after many hard and different games, Kiba had kept nagging at him about a match of arm-wrestling, saying "I can bench like 90 lbs, _come ooon_" and how he was gonna get his ass kicked. One of the many good things with Kiba was that he was a (somewhat) gracious loser.

"Just you wait," he muttered after getting beat the fifth time in a row. "One day I'll beat ya, Uzumaki."

Naruto didn't so much believe that, but he enjoyed watching him try.

He spent more time with them after that, seeing how no one treated him any differently after all. It was either because of that, or because of some mystical power on the rise, but he suddenly had lots of people coming onto him. He didn't even _know_ most of them.

Some were subtle, and those people his friends pointed out, laughing at his obliviousness. Some were less subtle.

One day, after gently turning down yet another hopeful girl at Ichiraku he turned to Sakura for advice.

"I don't get why, but this keeps happening."

She chewed some more on her noodles before she answered. "I don't know if you noticed, but you're _the Hokage._"

He ignored her somewhat salty tone, thinking that he had indeed noticed that, but didn't understand what that had to do with anything. "So?"

She sighed. "Naruto," she said kindly and put her chopsticks down with the face of someone about to explain that grass is green, suffering in a noble way.

"You're the Hokage, a fantastic shinobi, plus you look good," he squirmed uncomfortably at having her rave over his abilities, "_and _you're still single."

He took all of this in. "Oh."

"Also," she said and went fishing for an elusive bunch of noodles, "I think Kakashi-sensei acts like a deterrent, and now that he's gone they see an opportunity."

Kakashi-sensei? Acting like a deterrent? He wondered for a second if she had hit her head somewhere that morning.

"People actually think he's scary?"

In his opinion Sakura could be way scarier. But he didn't say that.

She shrugged. "I don't know, that's just what I've heard."

He shook his head. "That's ridiculous."

She had some more ramen. "For us maybe, but that's just because we've been on his team."

* * *

The days passed slowly. Three days since he left, four days since he left, five days...

Konoha was boring, Naruto decided.

He was almost relieved when he got a notice saying that representatives from Kusagakure would be coming soon. He was glad to hear it.

The little nation hadn't participated in the last war but instead kept to themselves, claiming to be "neutral". As to how one could be considered neutral after the world had burned to a crisp by a maddened Uchiha, he had no idea. He figured there was some kind of logic behind the decision. Hopefully. Maybe.

They were scheduled to arrive in two days time and that gave him something else to do. There were lots of preparations to deal with. Where would they be living? Where would they be eating? The delegation consisted of seven people, and he tried his best to accommodate their every need.

When they finally showed up he was delighted.

Their leader, a man in his thirties with light brown hair and sharp eyes seemed like a pleasant-enough guy. A little quiet maybe.

They were scheduled to stay a week and the first day he personally showed him around, walked with them around the town. They seemed generally surprised at the big amount of shinobi, but Konoha was the biggest village by far.

They were a very calm bunch, he eventually decided as he crawled into bed one night, and they wouldn't make any trouble. He made himself comfortable among the pillows and under the cover, burrowing down until only his head was above. He then did some counting, which told him that Kakashi would get back within a week, at most.

The next day he spent the morning in a consultation, and after a short lunch he went to spend some time with the visitors.

They had requested to have a meeting with him, without the council.

They were already waiting outside the meeting room when he arrived, short on time as always these days. He greeted them and held up the door. Owl waited outside, practically melted into the wall because of his deliberate lack of presence. Only four of the representatives attended, which made him believe that there was something important they wanted to talk to him about.

The man started telling him about the history of Kusagakure and Naruto sat back in one of the chairs, listening intently. Apparently the third had had some business with the village's previous leaders, and there were a lot of concern as to what had happened to the man. One day, not too long after a hokage meeting gone awry, the man had simply disappeared, never to be seen again.

"And you think that Sandaime had something to do with this?" he asked carefully, since that seemed to be what they were implying.

The leader nodded, brushed some nonexistent dust off his ceremonial clothes, then looked straight at him. "I do believe he was involved. They had a falling out a week before."

Naruto wasn't sure of what they wanted him to do about it. The Sandaime was gone, and Tsunade had probably never even heard of this. He could always go through some old documents, to see if there was anything there.

He didn't believe Sarutobi had partaken in making the man disappear. Sure, just like now the Hokage had the ANBU at his disposal, but he still didn't think that Sandaime would have had the man murdered and disposed of.

"I'll look into it," he said instead.

The visitors looked at each other, a short series of glances were exchanged. No one spoke, but the air in the room changed into something more hostile, vehement. They didn't seem all that pleased by his offer, as if it wasn't what they had been looking for.

"I'm sorry," he said, since this thing was apparently up to him to dismantle. "I'm not sure what you want me to do besides that."

Was there anything he _could_ do?

The leader stood up from his chair, walked a couple of steps away, turning his back on him, a distaste, an anger arching in his shoulder. "Do you think it matters that you're sorry?"

At that he said nothing, and an ice cold lump settled in him stomach from the whole ordeal.

He heard the door being opened behind him, another one of the visitors coming in, approaching them carefully.

He looked back onto the leaders back, and his vision got clouded from all the people that he missed.

His heart sunk in his chest, and he knew it didn't matter if he was sorry.

It didn't matter at all.

**Kakashi**

The days slowly sloshed turned into one, jumbled and invisible, the little calender he'd made was the only thing keeping time in order. They still had two days left before the time was up, and he planned on putting it to good use.

He and Hound were keeping tabs on the subject, sitting further away by the local tea house where the man went for tea and the latest village news.

Kakashi was crouched on a thick branch, almost completely hidden by the thick canopy. He'd minimized his chakra use, making him incredibly difficult to sense even for a trained guard. For all intents and purposes, he was invisible.

Hound sat to the left of him, completely at ease. It never ceased to amaze him how the burly and at times unnecessarily loud operative could at times become as inconspicuous and silent as a bird perched on a tree.

Both of them barely listened, let the everyday talk wash over them.

The man they were watching was was sitting on a bench, munching on a cake, talking to one of his employees, when another man approached him, looking positively riled up. It was another one of his underlings, one of the more ambitious ones.

The two ANBU men sat up, knowing that they were about to hear something important. The other employee was shooed away, not at a high enough level to hear whatever news were coming.

The leader checked their surroundings to check and see if they were alone, and then waved with his hand, allowing him to speak.

"Boss, I just got news from Konoha."

Kakashi felt his entire body freeze and he strained to hear whatever came next.

"Apparently there's been an assassination attempt on the Hokage."

No.

_No no no no no. _

His breath got stuck in his throat, and he tensed to jump down and physically beat all the info out of the informant. The only thing stopping him was a hand on his shoulder, clamping down hard enough to make bruises start forming.

"The entire village is in an uproar," the man on the ground added gleefully.

_You son of a bitch. _Kakashi saw red stars blooming in front of his eyes.

"Hatake, calm the fuck down," Hound wheezed between shut teeth. "Your chakra is gonna get us caught," and Kakashi was about to rearrange his face, _someone I need to punish someone I need-, _when Hound started twisting his thumb backwards, "Ow!", and he paused for just two seconds to realize what he was doing.

"It was _an attempt. _They didn't succeed, he didn't die. You think Hasegawa would let that happen?"

He opened his mouth to tell him that he had no fucking idea if he'd let it happen when his awareness started to make itself known.

_Calm down_.

_Kakashi. Calm down._

* * *

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